Sunday, August 14, 2016
All for one, everyone for themselves amongst the Brexiteers
As it were not bad enough that the majority of those leading the campaign to leave the EU had washed their hands of the whole affair, walked away and left others to pick up the pieces, those who are left are squabbling amongst themselves.
The Telegraph reports that there is a turf war raging between two of the departments of state tasked with negotiating the terms of the United Kingdom's exit from the EU and, more importantly putting in place alternative trade arrangements to stop our economy going down the pan.
The paper reports that just weeks after the two men joined the Government, Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox sent Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson a terse letter, which he copied to Theresa May, effectively demanding that the Foreign Office be broken up:
Dr Fox, suggested that British trade with other countries would not "flourish" if responsibility for future policy remained with the Foreign Office.
He also listed a series of economic statistics which called into question the Foreign Office's ability to boost Britain's economic ties with other countries and suggested that Mr Johnson focused instead on "diplomacy and security" including overseeing MI6 and GCHQ.
The Foreign Secretary is understood to have firmly rejected Dr Fox's demands and Whitehall sources claim that the Prime Minister is "unimpressed with this sort of carrying on".
The letter represents the first evidence of significant tensions between Mrs May’s Eurosceptic Cabinet ministers.
There is nothing more undignified than victors scrapping over the spoils and there is nothing dignified at all about this disagreement. If the Brexiteers cannot even present a united front in fighting for Britain's interests then what chance is there of them negotiating trade deals that will compensate for the losses involved in us leaving the EU?
The Telegraph reports that there is a turf war raging between two of the departments of state tasked with negotiating the terms of the United Kingdom's exit from the EU and, more importantly putting in place alternative trade arrangements to stop our economy going down the pan.
The paper reports that just weeks after the two men joined the Government, Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox sent Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson a terse letter, which he copied to Theresa May, effectively demanding that the Foreign Office be broken up:
Dr Fox, suggested that British trade with other countries would not "flourish" if responsibility for future policy remained with the Foreign Office.
He also listed a series of economic statistics which called into question the Foreign Office's ability to boost Britain's economic ties with other countries and suggested that Mr Johnson focused instead on "diplomacy and security" including overseeing MI6 and GCHQ.
The Foreign Secretary is understood to have firmly rejected Dr Fox's demands and Whitehall sources claim that the Prime Minister is "unimpressed with this sort of carrying on".
The letter represents the first evidence of significant tensions between Mrs May’s Eurosceptic Cabinet ministers.
There is nothing more undignified than victors scrapping over the spoils and there is nothing dignified at all about this disagreement. If the Brexiteers cannot even present a united front in fighting for Britain's interests then what chance is there of them negotiating trade deals that will compensate for the losses involved in us leaving the EU?
