Six years ago today, Britons woke up to a political earthquake, a referendum that led to their exit from the EU and three years of chaos. As of this morning, one of the principal advocates of that chaos is on his way out.
Last night Boris Johnson’s Conservatives lost another two by-elections; one to Labour in the north of England and one to the Liberal Democrats in the rural south-west, with evidence that opposition supporters are voting tactically to defeat Tory candidates.
The party chairman, Oliver Dowden, has since resigned.
Although Johnson did not expect the Leave camp to win the referendum, he eventually secured the keys to 10 Downing Street by backing their campaign. Doubling down on a hard Brexit in 2019 won him a hefty 80-seat majority.
Less than three years after a landslide election win, Johnson’s race is almost certainly run.
After he was fined for flouting the COVID-19 lockdown rules that his own government had imposed, this month, more than 40% of his Conservative MPs voted to depose him as party leader. Johnson’s approval ratings are toxically bad, at roughly –40%.
And while his party implodes, Johnson is in Rwanda for a summit of Commonwealth leaders, the organisation of 54 countries, most of them former British colonies, which he wants to be a vehicle for his ‘global Britain’ agenda.
Ironically, the Commonwealth, like Johnson, is facing its own leadership crisis, with Johnson trying to oust Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, a Labour politician.
This institutional row, coupled with the controversy about the ‘cash for asylum seekers’ deal with Rwanda, has effectively silenced anything useful the Commonwealth might say about food security, sanctions against Russia, and the cost of living.
Still, Johnson insists that he won’t quit, leaving the country in the hands of a terminally weakened prime minister flailing around to save his skin.
The Rwanda affair, the bill to override the Northern Ireland protocol, and a campaign to promote imperial measurements (stones, pounds and ounces, for those outside the UK) are all part of a desperate attempt to curry favour with Conservative MPs and voters.
What then of his unfinished project?
In a speech marking the sixth anniversary of the UK’s vote to leave the EU, David Frost, former Brexit minister and a close ally of Johnson, stated that “Brexit is fundamentally about democracy”. He insisted there is no evidence that the UK has suffered economically by leaving the bloc.
“The view that Brexit is hitting us from an economic and trade perspective is generated by those with an axe to grind and cannot be supported by any objective analysis of the figures,” Frost said.
That is something of an exaggeration, although the UK economy has not tanked as many analysts predicted during the referendum campaign.
“It is only really at the end of 2024 when the money is paid, and the Court role has largely disappeared, that the last relics of the EU system will have disappeared,” said Frost, referring to the European Court of Justice.
Boris Johnson may be the king of escapology, but by then, he, too, will almost certainly be gone.
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The Roundup
Bulgarian parliament handed a mandate on Friday to the outgoing cabinet of Kiril Petkov to approve a French proposal allowing Sofia to lift its veto on the start of North Macedonia’s EU accession talks.
While EU agricultural spending for climate action is high, this has not brought emission reductions, says a new report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Ahead of a G7 summit this weekend, the German government gathered ministers from 40 countries in Berlin on Friday to draw up strategies for global food security in the face of Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports.
Air pollution worsens our health, yet many cities fail to meet set targets, which can have profound health implications, putting more pressure on already overstretched healthcare systems, stakeholders say.
Investments in new fossil fuel projects will no longer enjoy legal protection on EU and UK territories under a deal reached on Friday (24 June) to reform the 1994 Energy Charter Treaty.
EU member states and the European Parliament reached a provisional deal on the long-awaited file on serious cross-border threats to health on Thursday. The deal has a strong focus on prevention, Parliament rapporteur Véronique Trillet-Lenoir told EURACTIV.
Last but not least, check out our Tweets of the Week and read the latest edition of the Agrifood Brief.
Look out for…
- Commission President Ursula von der Leyen participates in G7 Summit, hosted by Germany on Sunday.
- Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni participates in exchange of views with Parliament’s FISC Committee on Monday
- Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson receives Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, on Monday.
- Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council on Monday.
Views are the author’s.
[Edited by Alice Taylor/Zoran Radosavlljevic]
Source: euractiv.com
