This is a short story about the power of networking and connectivity. It took place over several weeks and involved at least 8 people from Swindon to Italy, Florida, Tunbridge Wells and Northern Ireland … It shows how “Parking on Red Lines” can sometimes be of value …
I was talking with Steve Rouse, leader of Swindon for Europe and instigator of “Dance Europa”. He explained how he had a difficult conversation with his Labour MP about their Brexit “red lines”. He pointed out that Labour can drop red lines on pretty much everything from Climate Change, but apparently not on Brexit. I popped that thought in my incubator … and shared it on our WhatsApp group.
Fast forward to our meeting at Reboot Britain. I was explaining Steve’s challenge to the team. Then Paul Cawthorne produced one of his famous lists on reasons why Labour’s red lines are seriously flawed … a little later and we get to the point that Labour have already broken its Brexit red lines on Gibraltar. If it can do this, it can apply to Rejoin the EU.
Although I am giving up on collaboration, I remain open to honouring great ideas when they come. I was compelled to make this one page summary (and Paul’s other meme) on red lines.
Parking on Red Lines
Send a letter with these graphics to MPs and share with influencers on social media.
Send a letter with these graphics to MPs and share with influencers on social media.
This story demonstrates the power of collaboration, joining the dots and why “Parking on red lines” matters. Thank you to the team for this. It’s a pity we cannot unify around the idea of Rejoining the EU. We still have as many formulations of what the problems are, what the obstacles are and what the end game is. Multiple perspectives on ends and means. These are typical characteristics of what I call “Wicked Problems“. Divergence on ends and means is at the heart of why we lose. The only good Brexit is a dead Brexit and the only good answer is to drop the red lines and apply to Rejoin.
Take Action – Park the Red lines
Write to your MP using these points above, the graphic and a copy of our book on Rejoining the EU. Having spent 32 years leveraging creativity, good ideas come from diverse connections and not from linear planning. Parking on red lines matters !!
Next steps – Remove Reform
I’m talking to Reform Watch today to see if we can join some more dots with our book on Brexorcism and our group “Fact Check Fash”. I recently had a letter from the Labour MP in Portishead explaining that they are holding a town hall meeting on Brexit following the lines of our suggestion for a national conversation on the matter in “A Better Britain“.
I’m also planning to stand for Council here in Medway to ensure Reform UK do not take hold in my area. Please support the campaign via Remove Reform UK.
Nigel F wants to get rid of the NHS and install “Two Tier Health”. He’s entitled to have that view in a democracy, but lets just think a while on what private healthcare means for most of us. There is already a way to see the future of a privatised NHS via the US model of healthcare. Just look at what you will likely be paying for critical operations and care:
This is not a joke. In the US if you cannot pay, you don’t get treatment. Be careful what you wish for …
Wendy Novak is an expert on this subject. Read her extract from the book Reboot Britain on Brexit and Healthcare. It was recently reported that Brexit has led to 1500 unnecessary deaths every year due to the exodus of European health professionals. Nigel did not put that on a bus! Perhaps that’s why he tells people not to listen to experts … Watch our mini film featuring several examples of people who rely on critical care. I’m glad to say that all are still alive as I write this.
Brexit kills … 1500 people a year … unnecessarily … let that sink in.Brexit is bad for your health …
Saving lives
But I’m an optimist, so I have a few suggestions on how to save lives for others through the unselfish acts of leave voters …
Just say no … to treatment
Do it yourself
Reforming Reform
If we want to deal with the causes of the Reform UK vote, deep therapeutic interventions into the minds and souls of the great unwashed are needed. I wrote a book to teach people how to do it based on 1000s of hours of deliberate practice. Please read the book of Brexorcism and attend our next meeting on Monday 12 May at 8 pm via ZOOM. I am also going to offer a six month professional development programme in the art and practice of what I call “Brexorcism” to give you the skills, strategies and stories to change mindsets if there is sufficient interest. Write to me for details via reboot@brexitrage.com.
I have also written to my Labour MP on the subject of mass Brexorcisms … and potholes … write your Labour MP a letter about Brexit and send a copy of Rejoin EU: Reboot Britain to them. See my letter below:
Dear Naushabah,
Firstly, may I congratulate you on the noticeable improvements to the roads after 14 years of Tory managed decline. As a cyclist, I am much closer to the asphalt than most road users and have fallen off my bicycle several times due to potholes in recent times. Although no physical damage has been done, I’ve had to replace a wheel due to the disgraceful neglect of the roads by the Tories. As a principle, I refuse to use my car on environmental grounds, preferring public transport and my bicycle and this gives me much better contact with the road (not literally for the most part).
I spoke with Cllr Vince Maple yesterday and pointed out that much of our “populist pothole problems” come from shoddy piecemeal repairs from dodgy contractors rather than complete resurfacing projects. To use a dental analogy, quite a few of these ‘drill and fill’ operations have now opened up on my street which will cost more money to fix. I’m pleased to see that your approach in Gillingham and Rainham (and in other parts of the Medway Towns) has been for wholesale renewal and hope these contracts are being closely managed.
I’m pretty sure that you have audited the area, as I see white lines around some of the most offending holes, but if I could add my two penneth of comment in, the bottom half of Barnsole Road has some very dangerous ruts and the middle of Canterbury St is very bad for bicycles. Please pass on the word to Tristan from bus drivers that the Brook in Chatham is extremely hazardous.
At the same time, I’m disappointed to see that many of the double red lines and now turning back to yellow. IMHO, it was shoddy work to just paint over the yellow lines, especially when the contractors were paid £800 000 to do it. Frankly I would have done it for less, to a better standard. Please ask them to make the work good at no cost to the taxpayer. I am currently dealing with a cowboy builder for my neighbours who are without good English language and I take a dim view of shoddy work which is not fit for purpose.
And whilst we are on the subject and at a national level, just stop the ‘drill and fill’ operation with Brexit. It opens the door to Nigel’s army of the “hard of thinking”. As discussed with Vince yesterday, the local election wins for Deform UK were characterised by low turnout and a certain number of people wanting to give Labour a bloody nose for what are, frankly, some terrible decisions, which have generated a great deal of angst for little real return. To strech the dental analogy a bit too far, more drilling and filling and tooth extractions without anaesthesia will not make the pain of Brexit diminish. It is time for some “Brexit root canal surgery” via an application to Rejoin the EU. Trump 2.0 / Putin / Farage etc. makes the burning platform of our relationship with the EU mission critical. Do remember that many of the people who voted for Brexit are now dead. As far as I know, dead people cannot vote in elections …
I am willing to help you design interventions to deal with the root causes of the Reform vote on a national basis via a series of large-scale interventions along the lines of the excellent event you held on climate yesterday in Rochester. I fear that if you don’t deal with Reform’s voter base, this will be a one term Labour party.
To sum up, I am extremely happy with all that you are doing locally. You prove yourself worthy of the job and I understand just how hard it is, given my other life working with senior people from global enterprises. I remain doubtful about some of the national choices being made by Labour, when there are easier picks to make, but I know you understand that. Keep going with the reforms (sic) to Gillingham and Rainham.
p.s. I’ve just published this review on the costs of Nigel’s “Two Tier Health” which gives people some foresight on Reform’s proposals to privatise the NHS. People may find it helpful, including Wes Streeting.
All the best
Peter Cook – Human Dynamics and The Academy of Rock
Here is our review of the Rejoin EU debate in Parliament on 24 March which found that Brexit was overwhelmingly a disaster. You can read the full transcript here.
Rage Against The Brexit Machine
There was unified Rage Against The Brexit Machine from right across the political spectrum save for the Tory party and Reform UK, who were too scared to attend. This rage even included Labour, who came as close as possible to being censured by the Labour party machine. Stella Creasy, in particular, gave an excoriating account of the damage being inflicted by Brexit, but, of course, stopped short of calling for Labour to reverse it, putting party before country. They will pay for this in support as I understand from inside sources that people are leaving Labour in droves. Is she waiting for her moment to unseat Starmer? We shall see. Here is an excerpt:
“Brexit is a disaster. It is a disaster by anybody’s metric, not least those according to whom it was purported to be a route to the promised land. The pandemic spared some of the blushes of those who still try to claim that we have got some elusive sovereignty as a result of leaving the European Union, but we can see the damage. Our constituents can see the damage.
Many Members have already cited some of the relevant figures; let me cite some more. As a result of Brexit, 1.8 million fewer jobs have been created in our economy, and that number is likely to rise to 3 million by 2035. Some 16,500 small businesses have stopped exporting to Europe all together. Those of us who were part of the parliamentary delegation last week had the pleasure of listening to Lord Frost trying to argue that up was down, but we know the truth for our constituents. We have seen the damage.
To me, the Brexiteers are like those people—we all have met them on a night out—who join the group, start a fight in the club and get everyone kicked out, but who still maintain, three hours later, as they are walking everyone around a completely empty industrial estate somewhere, that they know a great club that everyone can get into.”
Stella Creasy
Former Labour MP Rosie Duffield extinguished the notion that Labour had made an election promise NOT to reverse Brexit, by pointing out the many election promises already broken by Labour.
“The people now in charge were campaigning, with those of us who were here then, against Brexit several years ago, and I would like them to stick to that.”
Rosie Duffield
Creasy chose a particularly pathetic excuse to justify why Brexit could not be ended, by stating that it would be “difficult”. FFS, this is the job of politics and politicians, to do difficult things to make the world a better place!! Brexit was difficult, so stating the obvious as a reason to do nothing was possibly one of the ludicrous reasons to let Brexit continue that I’ve heard. This fits in with Paul Cawthorne’s list of reasons to do nothing articulated by Remoaners on an almost daily basis.
Friends Reunited
The debate was very cordial and was a model example of the kind of democratic behaviour we can return to when the Brexit nightmare has been put into a grave. It gave a united voice to the many Lib Dems who spoke, the SNP, Plaid Cymru and Independents. Impressive stuff from all. Here’s a few highlights:
“We can see from the number of Liberal Democrat contributions that this subject is very important to our party. My hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Mike Martin) talked about the impact on defence, and my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Manuela Perteghella) talked about higher education. My hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (James MacCleary) spoke about youth mobility and the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean convention, while my hon. Friend the Member for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe (David Chadwick) talked about the impact on farmers.
My hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) gave a very personal reflection on her own journey, for which I am grateful, and my hon. Friend the Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) talked about fishing. My hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Clive Jones) spoke eloquently about barriers to trade. My hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon (Mr Kohler) gave a polemic, which I really enjoyed, and my hon. Friend the Member for Melksham and Devizes (Brian Mathew) made a particularly interesting contribution about health co-operation, for which I thank him.”
Sarah Olney
“I encourage Labour Members to pursue this issue and keep on taking it to their Government—to argue with passion and conviction that they want the UK to be back in the European Union. That is the only thing that will satisfy the petitioners, because that is what they want. As has been rightly said, the UK public are way ahead of the House on this issue; some 60% of them now want the UK to rejoin the European Union. We should look at what they want. If one of the parties—just one—were to say, “We are totally committed to full EU membership,” that would be immensely popular; it would go with the grain of public opinion throughout the United Kingdom.”
Pete Wishart
“The Government must do what is right for the British public and not just run scared of the hon. Member for Clacton and the rest of his quarrelsome rag-bag of little Englanders and cheerleaders for Trump and Putin. We are part of Europe, and I have no doubt that one day we will rejoin the EU and regain our position at its heart, just as Winston Churchill advocated. Until that day, we must work tirelessly towards fostering ever closer co-operation by breaking free of the red lines in which this Government have bound themselves so unnecessarily.” Paul Kohler
“The end of January marked five years since the UK left the EU. Although a majority of people in the UK, and indeed in Wales, voted to leave the EU at that time, the majority do not think it was a good idea any more. Polling shows that 55% of Britons now say that it was wrong for the UK to leave the EU, with just 11% seeing Brexit as more of a success than a failure. Let us also not forget that young people voted decisively to remain.”
Liz Savile-Roberts
“Speaking of the architects of the botched Brexit, where exactly is the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage)? According to Hansard, he has mentioned Brexit just twice since his election in July. Surely, if this Brexit deal was the monumental success that he and others promised, he would be reminding us no end of times. His silence speaks volumes. Even he seems aware that this supposed triumph is best quietly forgotten.”
James MacCleary
I do not think that anyone in this Chamber, or the petitioners, expects the Labour party to lead us back into the EU tomorrow. What we want to hear from this Labour Government is a commitment that that is their objective and that is what they will work towards.
Pete Wishart
“I urge the Government to move away from warm words—at the PPA, we all exchanged warm words about our new relationship—towards action and results. Otherwise, we will be talking about a reset for many decades. We need action from the Government now.”
Wera Hobhouse
“I still wholeheartedly believe in us rejoining the European Union—that is our future—and debates like this are part of that process. People need be under no illusion that this issue is going away; as the petitioners and those supporting them prove, this debate is ongoing in the country. There is also strong support, as the polling evidence shows, that the public believe that we made a mistake.”
Tim Roca
We cannot afford to wait 10 years to address some of the very real challenges that we face as a country. Practical, tangible steps can be taken to help to build a stronger and closer relationship with the EU.
James Naish
“What is it about enriching young people’s lives that frightens this Government so much?“
Liz Savile-Roberts
Several Labour MPs went further than I had expected them to go, whilst sticking to red lines, red lines made largely irrelevant and inappropriate by redneck Trump and his Russian sponsors. We have also received some gratifying replies from Labour MPs.
To absent friends …
Save for a couple of swivel headed Unionist loons talking vacuous BS about fish and democracy, the debate was devoid of the Brexit Culture Carriers. No Nigel, Tice, Johnson, Mogg, Braverman, Duncan Smith, Truss, Sunak, Patel, Redwood, Davis, Failing Grayling, Chope, Coffey, Whittingdale, Francois, Hoey, Steve (beardy wierdy) Hardman Baker, Jenkyns, Fabricate, Leadsom, Gullis, Mordaunt, Hayes and many more. When people tell me that now is not the right time to end Brexit in case we end up in a hokey cokey Brexit, they seem to forget that Brexit has no cheerleaders. Nigel F has mentioned the word just twice since taking up office in his constituency of Washington and adopted the easy lie that Brexit was in fact perfection but it was just executed extremely badly by the hard Brexit cabinet. One would have thought that if Brexit was so good, then Brexiteers would have been lining up in their thousands to extol its virtues at the event. No one came. This speaks volumes. Even the Tory Gammon MP for Fylde said that Brexit had provided many benefits, but was unable to name ANY in his summing up. And the party line offered by Labour MP for Thamesmead was lacking in substance and delivered in such a robotic style that I began to wonder if AI had arrived sooner than expected.
It ain’t over
The motion passed. Sadly that does not mean anything other than the debate was held. If we want anything to happen, we must make it so … So, the job is not finished ….
I was delighted to receive over 30 positive replies from MPs due to our mass mailing of our book Rejoin EU: Reboot Britain to MPs, the work of 60 people, including former Labour MEPs, a KC and subject experts across many fields. This nearly involved my detention in parliament due to taking 30 kg of book in a suitcase for a meeting there !!
We have about 300 Labour MPs / journalists and influencers still to mail with books and are hatching a plan to form a “coalition of the willing and able” to meet with Sir Keir Starmer directly. We will need around £4000 to undertake these tasks (£1500 for books, a meeting in London for 20 people and associated costs). If you can help, please send us some support via WISE, BACS, Go Fund Me etc.
And you can still mail your MP with our letter and a hard copy of the book – get the template here and the book on Amazon. Bulk orders at 60% author discount direct via e-mail at reboot@brexitrage.com
Debate Rejoin NOW
“The EU is a pragmatic project, but at its core it is also an idealistic one. It is a project grounded in ideals, and in the idea that the nations of central Europe should never go to war again. It succeeded in that mission, making it one of the most successful political projects ever in mankind’s history. When we are making the argument for rejoining the European Union, let us use the language of idealism, not just rationalism. Unless we build a case for the UK to rejoin the EU based on idealist language and get people to buy into the ideals on which the European Union was founded, we will not have long-term buy-in to the project among the people we need to convince.”
David Chadwick
“I fear that I am in danger of picking at the scars and wounds referred to by the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Ms Creasy)—a very learned Member—but I must reflect on these past nine years. On 23 June 2016, the people of Scotland voted to remain within the European Union by 62% to 38%. There was a majority for remain in every single one of Scotland’s local authorities. In anyone’s terms, that was decisive, and if the vote were rerun today, I suggest it would be even more decisive.”
A letter to my new MP Naushabah Khan. I supported her candidacy in the General Elections, helping to split the Tory vote three ways. Even more pleasing I got a reply on her 2nd day in office. This validates my decision to stand and, of course, my strategy to ‘do no harm’ to Labour during my campaign, in spite my key difference over Brexit. Write your own letter to your MP. Feel free to use mine as a template.
The next five years
Morning Naushabah,
Firstly, congratulations on your appointment – fully deserved !!
My campaign was instructive in so far as it revealed something that I already knew … just how little Rehman Chishti bothers to deal with local issues unless it was multi-faith or Saudi arms ‘consultancy’ – coughs a bit …. But turning to the positives here …
I wonder if you will reverse this lack of consultation by installing ‘citizens’ assemblies’ here in Gillingham and Rainham? I know you are much more plugged into local issues than Mr Chishti, but I detected a distinct lack of public consultation from my hundreds of miles cycling round the constituency and in cafes / bars and fb groups in recent times. There is disquiet about a number of current initiatives where local consultation would lead to better solutions.
And, of course, you will expect me to ask you to put an end to Brexit as a priority and not in 2032 as Tristan Osbourne has mentioned a few times. Nobody will know what Brexit is by then and the damage will be complete, much of it irreversible. Nigel F will exploit a slow drift towards Rejoin in 2029 anyway if he is still around. Keir need not have boxed himself in on Brexit. It would have been enough to say that Brexit isn’t working, but there we are. And slow death by a thousand sector by sector ameliorations (what I call logical incrementalism in Reboot Britain) is also not an answer. Mr S seems puzzled by the question of a business case for Brexit. I am not and will be writing one in the coming week. In common with 2019, people loaned their votes to Labour in order to remove the terrible Tories. I doubt that will happen a second time and I realise how unfair this is, given the scale of things that need improving, but that’s politics as they say !
On a note of help, you can rely on my assistance in every way to improve the high street and other areas in which I can provide help. I’m also a skilled campaigner having received more votes than I deserved and having been told by many people that although they wished to vote for me, would I mind if they voted Labour to ‘carry the ming vase across the ice rink’. I did not mind and actively encouraged it.
You probably figured out at the hustings that I am supremely talented as a ‘critical friend’. I am presently bogged down in getting repairs made to my property due to criminal damage and knife crime by Reform UK acolytes, but once I have raised funds to pay for their criminal activities, I will be ready to assist in making Gillingham and Rainham a better place.
This from Paul Cawthorne in Italy, an economist, international consultant and long-term member of Reboot Britain. Image by Patricia Paton, Editor Bylines Scotland, from the related article Hard Labour, which you shoud read in conjunction with this piece.
Labour’s current “Make Brexit Work” policy is seriously flawed and, at best, will have no positive or negative impacts on their immediate electoral prospects. Labour is going to win power because the Tories are imploding after 14 damaging years (including Brexit) and Labour are now more trusted on all the key bread-and-butter issues (the NHS, the economy etc). Labour will win the general election despite, not because of, its unnecessary “no rejoining” red lines. If Starmer left the door open to rejoining the single market and customs union he would still be winning the election by a large margin.
Key factors
1. Poor advice based on outdated (2019) focus groups and internal polling data.
2. Overestimation of the enduring support for a hard Tory Brexit in the so-called Red Wall. Confirmed by John Curtice.
3. Underestimation of the the impact of Brexit’s evident failure on public opinion. See also The Sun’s reaction to the £5 Billion wasted on border checks just yesterday.
4. Underestimation of the impact of demographic changes on the electorate.
5. Overblown fear of the reaction of Tory tabloids to any perceived watering down of Brexit. See The Sun yesterday and the Telegraph.
6. Misplaced belief that “Make Brexit Work” will be a convincing winning 3-word slogan in 2024.
7. Nostalgic belief that Labour is still essentially a “working class” party and needs to prioritise at all costs the views and prejudices of these traditional “core supporters”.
The run up to an election is a critical time to influence politicians. Make sure you tell your Labour MP or candidate that your support is conditional on a change on policy.
Share relevant articles that accord with Paul’s analysis.
Expect better. Remainers are all too often on the back foot.
Postscript
I ambushed Keir Starmer this morning (23.05.24) at Gillingham Football ground with a message about Brexit and Rejoining the EU. It went down rather well with Labour activists. A few locals scowled as is normal in the area when Brexit is mentioned. My message was short as there are always just a few seconds to make your point in such circumstances : “Brexit is a game of two halves. Let’s make sure Mr Starmer is not on the losing side in the Euros”.
The Labour Party knocked on my door at the weekend. An extremely pleasant man began the canvassing by introducing himself and then asked me if I had any local issues that were troubling me. I replied with one word : BREXIT. I also apologised later on for telling him things he probably did not want to hear. He seemed fine with that and our conversation was cordial. Some of the hoops we jumped through are here for the record.
I began by explaining that I was finding it hard to vote for a Brexit party and revealed that I knew some senior Labour people who had told me that they would commence Rejoining in 2032. I explained that nobody would know what Brexit was by then and, in any case, the damage wreaked by Brexit would be mostly complete and much of it irreversible. I went through my usual argument that growth was for the birds, with a 4.5% resilience knock from Brexit, akin to trying to swim the English Channel with a 4.5 kg block of concrete around one’s neck.
Brexit resilence concrete
He listened carefully and then tried a few gentle pieces of pushback:
“Well the Conservatives won’t reverse Brexit” … I replied that I was not so sure, citing the fact that there was evidence of incremental movement to undo some of the worst elements of Johnson’s Brexit deal via the Windsor framework and our rejoining the Horizon science scheme. I went to point out that David Cameron had not come back to politics for a game of tennis and that one scenario would see Cameron pivoting towards the centre leaving the ERG loons in a boat on the Channel. I pointed him towards our articles Tectonic Plates and Cameron.
He went on to say “But the Tories will pivot towards the far right” … Again, I had to disagree, citing my appearance on James ‘O Brien, where I said that the votes were in the centre and that whilst it may appear that the far right are in ascendancy, this was only due to the loudest voices on MSM, such as Braverman and was not supported by the numbers. He nodded. I went on to say that Labour now have a major PR problem, having decided to partner with someone who supports sex pests and who relishes the thought of drowning children in the English Channel.
He found it very hard to argue against this recent development with Nathalie Elf Thick, but did ask me “What was Keir Starmer supposed to do?” … I replied that he should have simply thanked her for her kind offer and politely declined. Elphicke’s arrival in Labour offers them few advantages but also may cause them significant problems. I have wondered if she has actually been sent in under a false flag. We shall see. It seems rather fishy that the Tories instantly denounced her. Smells like a double bluff to me.
My canvasser’s parting shot was that he’d put me down as a floating voter, after I said that I may even have to hold my nose and vote Tory if Labour would not change its position on Brexit. I explained that Brexit was at the heart of many of the things he was hoping I might talk about (cost of living, NHS, migration etc.) and showed him my Brexit iceberg in the window of my house. It was a bit like doing a slightly nerdy keynote address with a poster in my window instead of a PowerPoint visual !!
The Brexit Iceberg.
I am hoping that he’ll report all of this back up the channels to Labour strategists. I was really impressed at our dialogue and how well he listened and constructively challenged me.
On the other hand, I heard from one of our group that Labour are banning posts on their Facebook groups that mention words like Erasmus, Horizon, ULEZ, Brexit etc. Labour are just as bad as the Tories in terms of censorship. I’m pleased to say that this has not extended to my local fb group, although the levels of misinformation are beyond comparison in the group. Some examples are below:
There are still industrial levels of misinformation out there. Don’t be like Steve.
Never give your voting intention away as you lose power to influence policy by doing so. I am still contemplating standing a candidate for the Rejoin party or possibly a cat again.
I’ll keep this simple. Labour insiders tell me that Keir Starmer will ‘get round’ to rejoining the EU in 2032 when nobody’s looking. Here’s why this is a unicorn to placate Labour ideologues and silence debate. It is 2023 now. Cast your mind forward 9 years ….
By 2032, few will remember what Brexit was, let alone care to do anything about it
Even in 2023 Brexit has disappeared from the news cycle and from public discourse. The poor attendance of around 5000 at the Rejoin march is an indicator of ‘Learned Helplessness’ and ‘Brexit fatigue’ amongst the general public, who either believe that Brexit is done or that we can’t do anything about it. Climate denial, bully dogs, ULEZ, mythical meat taxes, Holly Willoughby, potholes, HS2 and a stream of Tory gaslighting has effectively clogged the media channels and occupied the minds of people who are attracted to the next shiny bright object in the news. We fall for it every time.
By 2032, Horizon type deals and other ‘mini pay as EU go’ deals will reduce the pool of people who still think that Brexit is an issue
See our article Pay as EU go for more on Rishi Sunak’s strategy to pick single issues off one at a time and thus dilute the community of people interested in the underlying issue of Brexit.
By 2032, the damage of Brexit will be complete, much of it irreversible, thus little point in rejoining
For example, once the car industry leaves Britain due to rules of origin issues, they will not rush back just because a rejoin strategy is in place. Business relocations are big decisions etc. By 2027 our premier position in financial services will have declined as companies relocate or take key staff out of Brexit Britain. And so on. Like a chemical reaction, some are irreversible. Labour know all of this but fail to act. Even Prof Anand Menon is making excuses for Keir Starmer based on ‘here and now’ research. The word Brexit may have been silenced by all the political parties, media and people not wishing to re-open family wounds but all the products of Brexit are being talked about per our Brexit iceberg. Importantly, Brexit won’t go away if we keep not talking about it. It will remain a festering sore in many families for a generation until ‘gran and grandad Brexit’ have spun off this mortal coil.
The Brexit Iceberg.
By 2032 the EU may well have worked around us
This is not an insignificant point. Although there is value on both sides from rejoining at this time, there will be precious little socio-economic capital in the EU accepting us back in 2032. Just the much larger asset of political capital for the EU … they would be able to day that “the prodigal son returned”. However, the EU may well have speeded up accession of other nations seeking to join and may feel that Brexit Britain are just not worth the trouble. As a business person I fully understand that sometimes people choose the easier paths rather than the more difficult ones.
By 2032, our divergence from EU standards will make it technically more difficult to rejoin
Although this is perhaps the smallest issue, it makes the whole matter less tractable and politicians prefer to do easy things rather than difficult things.
No doubt this will make me unpopular, but I cannot and will not vote for a Labour party who wish to maintain the illusion that Brexit can be made to work as Keir Starmer declared yesterday. By turning their backs on the greatest socio-economic, political, legal, ethical and environmental catastrophe of our age Labour are mortgaging our children’s futures, the very opposite of what Keir Starmer claims he wants:
From The Guardian – click the extract to read the article.
My Labour chums tell me “shh, Keir has a secret plan to rejoin in 2032“. I’m sorry, but this lacks any sense of pragmatism for three major reasons:
1. By 2032, nobody will know what Brexit was. Micro Pay as EU go deals by Sunak et al will mean that the number of people caring about Brexit will get smaller and smaller. The end losers will be 68 million people without rights to live and work in the EU.
2. The economic and social damage to UK will be deep and mostly irreversible like an irreversible chemical reaction. For example, the bleed of financial services away from UK. The final destruction of the UK car industry. Fishing. Farming. Scotland and Northern Ireland’s departure from UK. and so on.
3. Our divergence from EU standards will be so great as to make it much more difficult to join anew.
Other optimistic Labour colleagues tell me that “Keir is simply saying what people want to hear. Once he gets into power he will change his mind“. They cannot explain how the Mail, Express and Sun will not eat him for breakfast for being no better than Boris Johnson as a liar. None can explain the difference between a red and blue Brexit.
The only good Brexit is a dead Brexit.
Starmer’s proposal appears to be based on a fear of facing down a few red wall racists and maybe some of the remaining hard left in his party. He ignores the vast majority of his membership and of course 63% of the nation who say that Brexit has Failed. This is a morally and pragmatically bankrupt position and must not be rewarded by voting Labour in a General Election.
Labour ignores its membership. Click image to compare.
Granted, the Tories are awful, but one cannot put a cigarette paper between Starmer’s position on Brexit and Sunak’s. Politics is so often the choice between the lesser of two evils rather than something aspirational and pragmatic. This is why I shall be supporting Gina Miller’s True and Fair party and hoping that we reach a hung parliament, given that the Tories have already destroyed themselves. A hung Parliament with a rainbow coalition offers the best chance to end the Brexit nightmare and all of its products as represented by our Brexit iceberg:
The Brexit Iceberg. Keir Starmer says that he wishes to work on root causes. All of the issues and more above the water line have their roots partially or wholly in Brexit.
Putting power before the people.
Write to your Labour MP or prospective candidate with this article. You may also wish to mention the Bylines piece Hard Labour and anything else you can muster. Demand a EU turn on Starmer’s position in exchange for your vote.
Help us make a stand in the Mid Beds by-election by giving Gina Miller’s True and Fair party a decent share of the vote. It’s only a by-election and it will make Labour (and the Lib Dems) think really hard about their position on Brexit. We need help on the ground with canvassing and social media amplification.
In the wake of the first Labour local council victory in Medway since 1998, I draw some post-election consequences for the Lib Dems, Greens, SNP, Labour and Conservatives. Undoubtedly, this was a disaster for the Tories and Brexit in terms of what was predicted. The Tories lost 1061 local council seats. The question is, is this enough to get the Tories done and Brexit undone?
My part in the Tories’ decline
At a personal level, I was delighted to play my part in the Tories’ decline in Medway, through long term campaigning, mass Brexorcisms in pubs, cafes, supermarkets, bus stops etc., and doorstepping in Tory voting areas over the last few weeks. My family loaned 8 votes from my family to Labour last week and some to the Lib Dems and Greens. However, we shall not repeat this performance in a General Election, unless Labour turn on Brexit and Europe. I have put their Councillors on notice to this effect.
My Tory MP Rehman Chishti became so desperate about the decline in his party’s fortunes that he decided to attack Suella Braverman about her recent demonisation of Pakistani Muslims in The Observer. This is significant, in so far as Mr Chishti has an impeccable record in voting with the prevailing cabinet. His unbridled attacks appear to have sprung from sheer desperation and a desire to pick up the Pakistani vote in my area rather than any serious conviction that Braverman is an evil spirit who was herself an immigrant. He failed. Given that the Tories have a stronghold in my area, I plan to stand an independent candidate in Gillingham and Rainham and need your help to do this NOW. Please click on the link below and back us.
Perhaps the story less covered in the mainstream media is that of the Lib Dems renaissance in last week’s elections. The Conservatives losses were fairly evenly distributed between Labour and the Lib Dems, with the Greens taking a very good proportion of votes as well. If this were to continue, the Lib Dems could find themselves as Kingmakers in a General Election along with the SNP. The Tories and Labour like the binary system which both believe they profit from. But we could find ourselves in a rainbow coalition in 2024. A lot can happen between now and then. Coalitions mean that politicians have to do things they really don’t like doing : listening to opposing views ; coming up with better decisions ; occasional compromises and so on. It’s all good with me. The people may just be the net winners in such a system … ?
The big winners here were the Lib Dems and Greens, with the losers being the far right (Tories) and the far right parties.
Green revolt
The Green party cleaned up, gaining a very respectable 241 seats in England and taking control of one Council in Brexity Mid Suffolk completely. Increasing awareness of sewage, climate catastrophe and possibly a protest vote against the far right parties aka Tories and UKIP may all have contributed to this. Let’s hope this continues into a General Election. Check our film out, based on our music composition ‘How do we want to be remembered‘.
Climate Crisis is the number one issue facing our planet.
How do we want to be remembered?
Rishi Sunakered
Sunak is under pressure from the ERG to go further right with his policies. As a holding statement on The BBC on Friday, Sunakered simply repeated his five priorities. He claims that people who cannot afford to eat were more interested in stopping the boats. Even James O’Brien is not sure what Sunak means by lurching to the far right. O’Brien frivolously suggested on LBC that it might involve bringing back the birch. I’d add bear bating, the rack and the drowning of witches, to take us back fully to Jacob Rees-Mogg’s 18th Century Brexit idyll.
An 18th Century Tory Synthpop Trance Floor dance groove we composed.
I called James to discuss Sunak’s options. Paradoxically, I suggested that Sunak would be better advised to move towards the centre ground of politics to pull the Swordaunt from the stone. James and I riffed away to my catchphrase ‘Sunackered’, which I coined in the summer of 2022. James said that Sunackered (or Sunakered) is worthy of a Daily Mail headline ‘if some guy wasn’t going to wear his mum’s hat and sit on a chair on Saturday’. Listen into to our riotous dialogue at LBC James O’Brien. #Sunackered is trending on Twitter as I write this.
I coined the phrase at the end of Summer 2022. Sunakered is free to use by the populist press. Please download the album to support our continuing work to banish Brexit bullshit.
Early indications suggest that Rishi Sunakered listened to my advice on LBC. Yesterday, Kemi Bad Enoch Powell announced that the Government has rowed back on its promise to have a bonfire of EU laws, 98% of which British politicians helped to make! Unusually, Jacob Rees-Mogg has called Sunak out as a traitor. Bad Enoch was sanctioned by TWFKASLH (The worm formerly known as Sir Lyndsay Hoyle) yesterday. Hoyle is a man who has allowed all sorts of bad behaviour to pass in the House of Commons but decided that enough was enough with the Nigerian Brexit fraudster. Mogg never calls the Government out. He even backs rapists. His outburst on the bonfire of EU law is clearly a smokescreen to get more than 20 Tory signatures on a letter to shaft Rich Tea Sunakered. I confidently predict that the approx 600 laws to be incinerated will be the ones with no large scale impact or connectivity to the main body of EU law. In other words, it will look as if we have taken back control of our laws, but, in reality, nothing will have changed, unless you indulge in some arcane Brexity manufacturing processes. For example, making car engines from English oak, impact-destructing cricket bats or pepper grinders without holes. Otto English sums up one of the many contradictions:
Still at least we've found a Brexit benefit this afternoon. The option to keep more arsenic in baby formula. What a win. pic.twitter.com/C8a9dmgXh6
And, once again, the ERG are fighting like cats in a sack. Andrew Bridgen has split the fascist parties by joining Lozza Fox’s Reshame party instead of Ricardo Tice’s Rebjorn Again party. It’s all good. Rishi is doing exactly what I predicted in order to save the Tory party from Brexit oblivion. Next he will steal Keir Starmer’s clothes, see Hard Labour. Perhaps Rishi is not Sunakered after all?
Sunackered or Sunakered – The theme tune – we were the first to convert the catchphrase into an EDM dance groove in 2022!!
Go now
In his weakened state, Sunak now needs some scapegoats. Given that the Select Committee has not yet reported on Boris Johnson’s multiple illegal, immoral and indecent behaviours, a convenient distraction would be for this committee to make a strong verdict against Johnson soon, such as full suspension from parliament. Accordingly, this would allow Sunak to blame the current malaise in the Conservative party on Johnson and Truss’ catastrophic mishandling of the country. It would also allow him to exorcise Johnson’s ghost without having to do anything himself. This is the way that Sunak likes to handle his HR decisions, through outsourcing to other agencies.
If Johnson is suspended for more than 10 days, The Rejoin Party have a plan to issue a recall petition to remove him from office and break the spaffer’s spell for good. Please join them in readiness.
VoterSuppression
The other big news about the election was voter id and voter suppression. For more on this read our full article on the subject. Early indications suggest that this will have disadvantaged specific demographic areas, such as ethnic minorities, the disabled and young people. The Government now runs the Electoral Commission and they decided not to record any data from polling stations. Correspondingly, it is quite likely that there is serious under-reporting on the extent of voter suppression in these elections. Edwin Hayward reports on over 70 case studies of voter suppression. They are almost certainly the very small tip of a very large electoral fraud iceberg.
These elections have demonstrated that the voter id system is totally unfit for purpose. I made my own small protest to the Electoral Commission. Above all else, please make your voice heard. Add your name to the call for action at electoral reform.
— Reboot Britain – Rage Against The Brexit Machine (@BrexitRage) May 4, 2023
Say no to voter suppression
The Scottish position
Although the local elections are a hammer blow for the Tories, they are not catastrophic. Labour needed to reach the magic number of 40% vote share in these elections to win a General Election outright. They won approximately 35%. This explains why Labour want to take 30 seats in Scotland. I predict an informal coalition of aggression between Labour and Conservative to viciously attack the SNP on any agenda and exploit the change of leadership. Admittedly, the SNP’s transition could have been smoother. However, I believe we will see some very bad behaviour from both Labour and Conservatives in the coming weeks and months. They must be dealt with accordingly.
That said, the SNP’s problems are temporary. The essence of SNP support and the values underpinning them will be largely unchanged by a few sensational tabloid headlines in the longer term. For comparison, I note that Boris Johnson’s many breaches of the law did not attract police tents in his garden and officers in fancy dress Hazmat suits. Added to this, Brexit delivers a daily stream of bad news, both in the short, medium and long term. Robert Peston reported that 86% of young people wish to rejoin the EU. In consequence, Starmer’s position on Brexit is ultimately untenable. I reported on Labour’s position on Brexit in the previous article “Hard Labour“. If Labour’s results are not good enough to win a General Election outright, a hung parliament still seems a likely outcome of the current optimism about the local elections.
