BEST FOR BRITAIN'S
WEEKEND WIRE
Dear John,
We’ve finally got a deal in Northern Ireland, and with it, the political landscape has seen a major shift. Anyone thinking this would also involve the Government suddenly ditching their incompetence, sadly, has already been proven misguided. Details below.
Sunak’s Windsor workaround <[link removed]>
On Monday, after numerous false starts, false dawns, false hopes, and false promises, the Prime Minister and the President of the European Commission finally unveiled <[link removed]> the Windsor Framework, hopefully ending the diplomatic impasse between the EU and the UK over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
While the DUP has yet to signal <[link removed]>their all-too-important approval and the agreement still needs to be put to a parliamentary vote, politicians and commentators across the political spectrum have hailed the terms of the agreement and called for MPs to support it.
The agreement includes a limited role for the European Court of Justice, red and green lanes for goods exported from Great Britain to Ireland to reduce checks, and a significant “Stormont backstop” that will allow Northern Irish politicians veto power on certain EU laws applied to the province, but shrewdly, only if there is a functioning government there.
Best for Britain CEO Naomi Smith appeared on ABC Australia <[link removed]> and LBC with Shelagh Fogarty <[link removed]> to discuss the deal.
New Horizons
The Government’s newer, more grown up approach to negotiating with the EU immediately began paying dividends when, during the press conference announcing the deal at Windsor, von der Leyen declared <[link removed]> that negotiations to bring the UK back into the Horizon Europe programme as an associate member would immediately reopen.
The UK’s previous sabre-rattling at the EU with the law-breaking Northern Ireland Protocol Bill had resulted in the EU locking the UK out of the bloc’s flagship scientific research funding and exchange programme, despite some non-EU members being included.
Surely something to welcome given the UK’s disrupted membership had halted <[link removed]> vital scientific research and sent scientists emigrating <[link removed]> from the UK in droves. But not so fast, the Prime Minister reportedly remains “sceptical” <[link removed]> about the benefits of the programme. Glad that bit of sensibility was just a blip!
Sad boi Boris
In a Westminster speech on Thursday, Boris Johnson found himself at the bottom of a conundrum, a farce, and a psychodrama all in one.
In a stream of consciousness <[link removed]> that would have William Faulkner screaming to get to the point, Johnson admitted <[link removed]> fault for issues in the Northern Ireland Protocol, that he hoped Sunak’s plan would work but then said <[link removed]> that he would have a hard time voting <[link removed]> for the Sunak’s deal nonetheless.
With such incisive speaking skills, it’s a wonder how he wasn’t able to negotiate a better Brexit deal.
Lockdown files fracas
Fans of terrible people fighting each other were dealt a welcome surprise when hundreds of thousands of WhatsApp messages from Matt Hancock during his tenure as Health Secretary during the pandemic were leaked <[link removed]> to the Telegraph by lockdown sceptic and self-styled journalist Isabel Oakeshott. Fans of having a Government that responds competently and without pathological selfishness to the most disruptive pandemic in a century were, once again, disappointed.
The most damning revelation from the ‘lockdown files’ was just how blatantly Hancock ignored <[link removed]> scientific advice telling him to test all people entering care homes–a decision that contributed to thousands of unnecessary deaths in care homes. Other lowlights include Hancock begging <[link removed]> George Osborne for favourable write-ups in the Evening Standard, private couriers taking <[link removed]> Covid tests to Jacob Rees-Mogg’s house during shortages, and Hancock and Gavin Williamson claiming <[link removed]> that teachers “really really do just hate work.”
Hancock reacted to the leaks with his trademark graciousness: he whined <[link removed]> about the breach of an NDA and allegedly left Oakeshott a threatening message <[link removed]> in the wee hours of the morning.
Layla Moran MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus <[link removed]> (for which B4B act as secretariat) appeared <[link removed]> on LBC to discuss the revelations (beginning at timestamp 8:58).
Gray days ahead in Westminster
You know when you move up a year in school, and you’re dismayed to find that the sternest teacher has moved up a year with you?
The Partygate offenders at the head of Government must be feeling that feeling ever since it was announced that Sue Gray would be joining <[link removed]> Keir Starmer’s team as chief of staff. It would be ironic, given that Boris Johnson himself appointed <[link removed]> her to lead the Partygate probe, but a sense of irony departed the Tory party long ago.
Tories have reacted with fury at the hiring, and pledged to block it, with Jacob Rees-Mogg logging it <[link removed]> in his longstanding crusade to rid Britain of the civil service. Labour have signalled <[link removed]> they may delay the appointment until after the next election should they be advised.
Shocking crash in Greece
On Tuesday night, a train between Greece’s two largest cities, Thessaloniki and Athens, crashed head-on into a freight train. The crash resulted in 57 deaths, many of them students returning <[link removed]> to the capital following a holiday weekend, making it the nation’s deadliest-ever rail disaster..
This week, following the crash, demonstrations broke out <[link removed]> around the country after charges of negligence from the Greek transportation department. Anger swelled after it was revealed that the train’s driver had been told to proceed through a red signal, sparking two 24-hour strikes from the country’s rail and metro workers.
Best for Britain expresses its deepest sympathies for the lives lost and uprooted by this disaster.
UK vs France: the re-re-re-re-redux
The longstanding mediaeval (or ancient, if we’re going back to the era of Gaul and Britannia) situationship between the UK and France received an excellent write-up in the Financial Times this week, and, despite the positive steps of this week, the verdict wasn’t so encouraging for this side of the Channel: France is becoming the new Britain <[link removed]>.
Simon Kuper details the UK’s previous supplanting of France on the world stage up to the 2000s, highlighting how our two countries are perhaps more alike than any others, despite how vigorously both sides would likely protest.
However, following the 2008 financial crash, a combination of nation-specific factors, austerity and then Brexit on our side, has now, in Kuper’s view, placed France above the UK in the geopolitical pecking order, now with better public services, higher incomes, and more promising prospects. The piece makes for intriguing if sobering reading–give it a share.
With that, we’ve suddenly got a whole new slate of talking points to argue, agonise, and drive ourselves mad over. Get at it while the iron’s hot!
Best wishes,
Tommy Gillespie
Press Officer, Best for Britain
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Best For Britain - United Kingdom
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