Boris must lead the Brexit charge

Peter Divey believes there will only be a change in Brexit approach if May is removed. Boris and Johnson could well be the man to lead the charge. 

At long last the phoney war has ended. Boris Johnson has gone. Pretend-Brexit has been revealed, and it has been called out. The Tory manifesto, those heralded May speeches, well, they were propaganda. The Red Lines have been rolled up and hidden away out of sight. Traduced is the charge, especially as recently as PMQ's last week May was unequivocally defending those very same lines. The situation has "evolved", the loss of a majority at the GE, the numbers no longer work in Parliament, it is pragmatism. Nope, not buying any of that. It was a connivance.

Occasionally a politician is transparent, no mealy-mouthed half speak. As was Steve Baker this morning as he did the tour of the TV studios following his resignation. It was dynamite. He and Dave Davis at the DEXEU (Department of exiting the European Union) had been "blindsided". They never saw the Chequers agreement coming. He admitted that they had been kept out of the loop and they were working on a very different proposal, one that would meet the manifesto, the Red Lines, those big May speeches. They were not on a different Continent, they were inhabiting a different Hemisphere. Other issues grated, the talk of no official ride back from Chequers if you resigned, the anti-narcissist counter briefing. All just so silly.

Baker does not want a Leadership challenge, but he says now is the time for a change in policy. He wants Brexit to honour the instruction of the people. He wants Brexit to mean Brexit. Steve Baker is clearly very shocked at the turn of events, how he and others were treated. Andrea Leadsom  defended the new Chequers proposal, she said that it absolutely met every Red Line…and then explained how, in fact, it did not. She slipped up badly at the end, and was not challenged by the TV host…"association arrangement", i would have dived in hard there. That special Brexit cliche was rolled out ad nauseum…the electorate will not have been aware of the difficulty and complexity, could not possibly have been "informed"…lets translate that… the voters are buffoons…so lets have another referendum. They are now sufficiently "aware"…have had time for brain-washing, to absorb Project Fear, will vote in an "informed" way. If you hold the race now, we will win, so go on, give us another chance, it is the EU way after all. Pretty please.

So, will there be a Brexit renewal? Will Team UK be significantly more sturdy? This is what Davis wants.  All he can see is more yielding, more concessions with this pretend-Brexit becoming ever softer. An Independent UK was only illusory if this was the path said Davis. It can all now be played out in plain sight with no more back alleys that disavow an entire Government Department. Raab knows that if he steers off course his assignment will once again be deflected to Robbins. What a position for an unelected bureaucrat to be given. Whitehall are truly running the anti-Brexit show, there influence is unprecedented. Just as Theresa may wants it.

Johnson is divisive, he has lost credibility and influence and when Heathrow 3 was stood up, he stood down. He is not the Big Beast that he was. But Labour MPs invited into No.10 to shore up May's vision of Brexit? There is only so much a man can take. Boris has had enough talking about turds, he probably expected PM May to ask him to polish some. There will only be a change in Brexit approach if May is removed and Johnson could well be the man to lead the charge of the 48. Interesting times are ahead. Brexit itself could be lost…but nothing ventured,nothing gained, was the attitude of Leave voters and it is about time politicians showed some fortitude of their own. Bring it on.