Peter Ricketts
@LordRickettsP
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Former diplomat, Chair @LordsEUCom , Vice-Chair @RUSI_org , Hon Pres Normandy Memorial Trust. Author of ‘Hard Choices’. Views strictly my own!
Joined February 2016
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This letter brought tears to my eyes. It’s the Europe I believe in, the Europe that past British statesmen like Churchill, Bevin and Eden played such a prominent part in calling into being. What has happened to us?
The most remarkable & significant letter to the Times of my lifetime
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Spare a thought for our highly professional civil service. They are getting on calmly with running the country while the politicians run round in ever-decreasing circles.
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The ramping up which has been truly impressive in this crisis has been the supermarkets’ response. Their distribution system has been resilient to panic buying, their home delivery drivers provide a vital social service and cashiers have stayed at their posts heroically. Hats off
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This rubbish is unworthy of a British Foreign Secretary. The EU isn’t a Soviet-style prison. Its legal order has brought peace and prosperity after a century of war. Our decision to leave was always going to leave us worse off. The only punishment is the self-inflicted variety
"If you turn the EU club into a prison, the desire to get out won't diminish it will grow" - Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt addresses EU leaders during party conference speech
#CPC18
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Take a moment to step back from the details and reflect on the sheer absurdity of breaking away from our nearest neighbours, who take 45% of our exports, without even a basic trade deal.
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The decision not to participate in
#Erasmus
is short-sighted and mean-spirited. The programme transformed the life-chances of thousands of Brits, many from disadvantaged backgrounds. The proposed UK alternative from a standing start will not be a full substitute. Here’s why. 1/7
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Dominic Grieve is right to demand publication. The Leadsom reply here “Many select committee reports are produced and the government has to respond properly. It cannot respond in haste” is irrelevant. Govt simply have to publish. Their response comes later
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What an excellent way to begin our life as an “independent “ country needing new trade agreements.....by massively defaulting on our debts!
In an exclusive interview in The Sunday Times tomorrow, Boris Johnson has a message for the EU: That £39bn is ours.
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We have passed the Bill that makes it impossible for the UK to leave the EU on 31 October, unless the Commons votes in favour of such a course. Over to the Commons to finish it and send it for Royal Assent. A remarkable achievement to pass such a Bill in face of Gov’t opposition
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This really is an extraordinary statement from
@michaelgove
. He knows perfectly well that without a deal the UK will lose access to EU databases and alerting systems. These are used intensively by UK Police. Alternatives will be MUCH slower. In security cooperation, speed=safety
Theresa May says 'Whaaaat?' as
@michaelgove
suggests to her that the UK security cooperation with the EU will be 'better' under Brexit, deal or no deal.
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What a tribute to the German people. After their generosity in welcoming in a million asylum seekers less than a decade ago, this is a resounding answer to reports of far-right groups plotting mass expulsion of migrants.
This is Berlin today. Calling for resistance against the Far Right.
All around Germany, people took to the streets in the last days.
History tells us:
We cannot wait until it is too late and Fascists are in power.
We have to stand up to them.
NOW.
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Relieved that I’m not having to explain, as a British Ambassador, how the Government has a democratic mandate to take this huge gamble with the public finances, a policy completely contrary to the Tory manifesto at the 2019 general election on which their Commons majority rests.
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If ever there was a moment to agree with the EU a short extension of the transition period, it’s now. These are not the conditions in which rational decisions can be made on issues that will shape the UK’s prosperity and security for the long term.
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This is all so pointless. We are creating a vast customs bureaurocracy (with costs passed on to the consumer) to check goods which already meet the EU standards the UK has contributed to setting over the last four decades. Why?
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The mood has shifted on Brexit after the PM’s petulant No10 speech then losing control of the process first to the EU and now to MPs. See the 1m March and the 5m petition. The scale of disaster that no-deal wd be has dawned on people. Now the Commons sh’d decide to revoke A50
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French Parliament pass law banning fake news during elections. Fake is defined as “inaccurate or deceptive allegations of a nature intended to alter the honesty of an election”. How many leave campaign assertions would have been caught by a similar UK law?
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If the Prime Minister can change her mind, from day to day, why can’t the people be allowed to change theirs, 30 months after the referendum
#peoplesvote
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‘Our guiding lights will remain the values of free trade, democracy, human rights and the international rule of law’. Dominic Raab House of Commons 13 January 2020.
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It’s not clear to me how we will have ‘the world’s most effective and secure border’ (Mr Gove) when we will lose access on 1 Jan to the Schengen Information System which gives alerts on movement of criminals/suspects. UK police and border staff consulted this 600m times in 2019.
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The message is simple. Mil operations alone don’t achieve pol objectives. Destroying enemy infrastructure does not produce security. That requires a strategy for who governs the territory once the fighting stops and how to break the cycle by giving people hope for the future. End
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Rather than finding something new to say on Israel/Gaza, here is a memory, with a message. The memory is that I was the FCO Arab-Israel desk officer in 1982 at the time of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. At the time this felt like a major crisis. There are some parallels 1/
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This won’t wash.
@BorisJohnson
was happy to shower praise on Sir Kim once he’d resigned, but when the guy really needed unequivocal support during the debate the night before, Mr Johnson didn’t stand behind his man.
“(Boris Johnson) certainly regrets Kim Darroch’s resignation but he wanted to focus on the issue here, which is this most appalling leak…we want the leaker caught, investigated and prosecuted…”
Sir Michael Fallon on the UK/US leak row and Boris Johnson’s reaction
#newsnight
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My thoughts on why delays at peak times are likely to be the new normal. After Brexit, French officials are now obliged to check and stamp each UK passport. This takes time. Dover saw the problem coming and asked for £33m for new booths. The Gov’t refused.
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I care about my country’s reputation for respecting international law. If the Bill comes to the Lords in this form I shall vote against it at every stage.
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Has anyone asked British business leaders whether they think the best way the government can help them win contracts abroad is to spend £200m on a ship so they can invite people to cocktail parties? Isn’t that at least two generations out of date as an export promotion concept?
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The EU are not ‘trying to impose’ anything. The PM negotiated and signed the WA and N Ireland Protocol with the EU, then rammed them through Parliament proclaiming a triumph. The Protocol explicitly applies whether or not EU and UK agree a trade deal. All this is airbrushed out.
Tomorrow’s Telegraph front page: “Johnson: EU a threat to integrity of the UK”
#TomorrowsPapersToday
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Mafia-like EU. That will be the organisation that underpinned stability and prosperity in our region, that Ted Heath joined and Margaret Thatcher shaped by championing the single market; a lynchpin of the rules-based order enjoying free trade agreements with 53 countries?
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Here’s the world-leading U.K. replacement for Erasmus. It will largely confine studying abroad to those with parents who can subsidise it.
Great replacement for the Erasmus programme, guys: lower cost-of-living support, travel support means tested and above all *no tuition fee support*. That'll really get UK students queueing up to spend a year abroad won't it.
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Kim has been an outstanding public servant with a distinguished career in the highest-profile jobs. It should not have ended like this. He has been taken out by an act of political sabotage. What does this say about the state of our country?
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Because U.K. and almost all countries signed the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees. Countries neighbouring Syria have taken in millions of displaced people. The EU as a whole gets around 600,000 asylum requests a year. UK gets around 30-35,000. Sense of proportion can be useful.
@tcollins298
@LordRickettsP
@BBCr4today
Why do we have an obligation?
Do other countries not have a similar obligation?
If so, call on them to take in gen asylum seekers
If not then why should UK have a higher obligation?
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The Government would win so much respect if they admitted, just sometimes, that they had made a mistake and were correcting it. That would be a sign of strength not weakness.
Health Sec
@MattHancock
is asked why the PM has apparently done a U-turn since yesterday on exempting foreign health and care workers from the NHS surcharge.
He says the PM's answer yesterday was "about the immigration health surcharge as a whole".
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And there was me labouring under the illusion that Parliament was sovereign and the government was accountable to it. I should have realised that on Brexit the government unilaterally decides what is the will of the British people and Parliament has no right to challenge that!
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Worth noting that the TCA we signed with the EU provides that if either side ‘denounces’ the ECHR, all cooperation on law enforcement and justice could be suspended immediately. Police would lose access to EU crime databases, we couldn’t send back fugitives from justice etc.
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My appeal
@BBCr4today
yesterday for the UK to suspend arms exports to Israel seems to have generated some interest. It was not a knee-jerk reaction to one awful incident. The deaths of the 7 aid workers brought into sharp focus a deep underlying problem. This was my argument 1/6
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I am proud that so many EU citizens have chosen to bring their talents, energy and friendship to our country. You are profoundly wrong to denigrate them as queue jumpers, and by extension all the British people who have legally made their lives in the EU
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The Speaker of the US House of Representatives reminds us that a US-UK trade deal, flagship of the Brexit project, won’t happen if UK breach of international law leads Congress to conclude Good Friday agreement is in jeopardy. The ripples of this reckless act continue to spread.
NEW
🇺🇸🤝🇬🇧
@SpeakerPelosi
on a potential U.K. / US Trade Deal.
“If the U.K. violates that international treaty (Protocol) & Brexit undermines the Good Friday accord, there will be absolutely no chance of a US U.K. trade agreement passing the Congress.”
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Proud to have been part of the large majority in the Lords (321 to 152) tonight opposing a no deal outcome and declaring that the PMs deal would “damage the future economic prosperity, internal security and global influence of the U.K.”. Hope the Commons were listening!
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Thanks
@JMPSimor
. With Parl’t dissolved, it won’t now be published till Jan. Disgraceful. This must lead to change in the way ISC reports are approved. Once security clearance is given, ISC should have the same right as other Select Cttee to publish its reports!
So we now have
@LordRickettsP
, former permanent secretary FCO, Lord Evans former MI5 director general and Dominic Grieve, former Attorney General & Chair of ISC all saying the Russia Report should be released. This is quite a trio.
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My plea in today’s Lords debate to recognise that free movement has been a life-enhancing opportunity for millions of British people to work and settle in EU countries, and students to study there. Ending it is not something to celebrate but a huge loss
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A good way of marking 2 years since the referendum would be for Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and co to go to the Airbus and BMW factories and explain to the workforce why they are so keen to keep open the option of no deal. It would be an interesting discussion.
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Has anyone on Twitter seen a good explanation of why two of the Party leaders plan holding a prime time tv debate as if this were a Presidential election, when the only audience who get a “meaningful” vote are the 650 who hear these two “debate” every Wednesday morning anyway?
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Proud to have been part of large majority in the Lords on amendment to give Parl’t a meaningful vote on draft Brexit deal: ie to accept the deal, or send Govt back to negotiate changes, or to stay in the EU. This is not a plot to stop Brexit but taking back control for Parliament
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Don’t underestimate reaction in Paris. It’s not just anger but a real sense of betrayal that UK as well as US and Aus negotiated behind their backs for 6 months. I lived the rupture in 2003 over Iraq. This feels as bad or worse. And we still need cooperation w/France (migrants…)
Boris Johnson said Britain and France's military relationship remains “rock solid," despite a new defense technology alliance which has seen Paris lose a submarine contract with the Australians.
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I appeared before Tom King and Malcolm Rifkind as Chairman of the ISC and have worked closely with Dominic Grieve. All three were tough, fair and unflinching in holding the Govt to account. You might say Mr Grayling isn’t remotely in their league - I couldn’t possibly comment!
Chris Grayling closes in on role as chair of UK intelligence committee
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Powerful letter from the last Commissioner to oversee an independent public appointments system.
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Welcome to the realities of negotiating as a smaller economy seeking agreement with a larger one. Wait till it’s the US Trade Representative on the other side of the table!
2/3 Also surprised by suggestion that to get an agreement all future moves must come from UK. It's an unusual approach to conducting a negotiation.
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Joined my colleague David Anderson in pressing Govt on failure to publish this report. I stressed the public interest in knowing the security implications of Russia’s adversarial behaviour. Also that the ISC is the only Select Cttee that needs Govt OK to publish. Get it done!
.
@bricksilk
asks government why
@BorisJohnson
hasn't provided confirmation within usual 10 days that the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament’s Special Report on Russia may be published and whether that confirmation will be provided today
#PNQ
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Yvette Cooper and Oliver Letwin achieved what the Govt have failed repeatedly to do: get a Commons majority for something on Brexit. All tribute to them. Action in the Lords today. We sh’d respect the will of the elected Chamber and adopt the Bill today. I’ll be working for that
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Lord Robin Butler, with his unrivalled experience at the heart of government, endorses here my concern that we are seeing the start of an Americanisation of the civil service with incoming Ministers replacing an increasing number of the most senior officials.
"I think that the politicians are beginning to forget the Constitution"
Former Cabinet Secretary Lord Butler, reacting to the dismissal of Treasury Permanent Secretary Sir Tom Scholar, says the Civil Service is being compromised, warning it will "corrupt our system"
#TW2
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In short, a UK-only scheme will not replicate the benefits of Erasmus, while probably costing as much. Those too young to vote in the referendum will be the ones to suffer from this mean-spirited decision. I hope it will be one of the first things a future gov’t puts right. 7/7
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‘Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home.’ Gladstone was right. That’s why Britain needs a general election. A credible foreign policy requires a leader with authority, a mandate and a political lifespan measured in years. Truss has none of these 1/3
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To recap. The PM rushed the renegotiation so as to leave EU by 31 Jan. Many unresolved issues were punted to a Jt Cttee to sort out. Govt misled public about terms of the deal, hoping the EU would agree to fudge the inconvenient bits. When they refused, Govt reneges on the deal.
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The issue is not what Kim Darroch reported. It is that someone with access to classified material collected reports going back three years and leaked them to the Daily Mail. The second time following Huawei that national security information had been leaked for political ends.
The Foreign Office is investigating the ‘unprecedented’ leak, in which incumbent UK ambassador to the US Sir Kim Darroch called Donald Trump’s White House ‘uniquely dysfunctional,’ and ‘inept’
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Baffling. The King is a globally-respected voice on the environment, as I saw when He opened the COP21 summit in Paris. His presence at the Egypt summit w’d have given Britain great impact. He w’d have followed Gov’t advice on substance. What’s the problem?
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Two reasons here why the Turing scheme won’t replicate Erasmus a) the payment on offer seems to be around £2,800: where do you get a uni exchange for that? b) it will not cover European students coming here, so what’s the incentive for their institutions to cooperate with Turing?
UK’s Erasmus exit prompts laments on both sides of the Channel
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So to sum up: UK requires 10 day quarantine for arrivals from mainland France; the Foreign Secretary explains this is mainly because of prevalence of Beta variant in Réunion; but arrivals in UK direct from Réunion are not subject to quarantine. Struggling to find coherence here!
France: zone dangereuse from the UK perspective, making it the sole member of the medium-high risk alpha plus category.
The reason: concern about high level of Beta variant on the island of Réunion,
@DominicRaab
confirms.
But Réunion itself is plain amber.
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President Macron really has gone out of his way to be gracious.
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In case anyone doubted how deeply French people feel the loss of La Reine
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I for one have had enough of the name-calling and personal abuse which is poisoning British politics and demeaning our public life. Deal with Mark Carney’s arguments, don’t just insult him!
@faisalislam
We must not accept this as the new normal in British politics. It is always wrong for an MP to smear a public servant. It is even more irresponsible when Mark Carney, a figure respected around the world, has a crucial role in getting the country through the Brexit mess
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I hope his US interlocutors are clear who he represents: himself, no-else. It’s very odd to have a former Minister behaving abroad like this.
I have spent the last few days in Washington talking to US Government Trade and Treasury officials encouraging a free trade deal with the UK. Excellent response. They have already started on the procedures to allow negotiations to start immediately once we leave the EU in March.
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Result! The Lords have adopted Ld Hailsham’s amendment with a big majority, 354 to 235. This enables the Commons to reconsider and vote on the amendment if they wish. In event of no deal, Parliament not Govt to decide what then happens. Parliamentary sovereignty.
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Hillary Clinton knows something about how Russian interference can affect the outcome of elections. If No 10 thought they could avoid some embarrassment by sitting on the ISC report, they are now finding out that they made a huge mistake that will resonate through the campaign.
UK government's delay of Russian influence report is inexplicable, damaging and shaming, says Hillary Clinton.
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Mr Hunt is making a big mistake if he thinks this transparent blame game is going to change any minds in Europe. The UK did this to ourselves and only has itself to blame. That will be history’s verdict.
.
@Jeremy_Hunt
on Today reinforces message of
@theresa_may
that if she loses vote it will be EU’s fault: he warns EU leaders to take care the impasse “doesn’t inject poison into our relations for many years to come” and warns that if EU doesn’t make...
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Proposal to freeze licence fee for 2 years = real terms cut in BBC budget. Yet the 2021 Integrated Review set out the ambition for UK to be a soft power superpower and vaunted that ‘The BBC is the most trusted broadcaster worldwide’. How does that square?
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This is so true. Civil servants have had to keep the show on the road while Ministers are off the air (again) feuding and conspiring. Now they will have to start briefing a whole new set of Ministers. One of the costs of the current Italian-style churn.
A civil servant texts: "I’ve had meetings with ministers cancelled because they are too focused on their infighting and leadership campaigns. This madness means that absolutely nothing can be done, and even if they get a new leader, we’ll get new ministers and every time...
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Does Mr Raab have any inkling of how hollow this sounds from a British Minister today?
Iran must never develop a nuclear weapon. It must comply with its nuclear commitments & preserve the JCPoA – that was the conclusion of the E3 when I met with
@HeikoMaas
🇩🇪 &
@JY_LeDrian
🇫🇷 today. We are committed to holding Iran to account
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The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights contains important rights not found in any current UK laws. So it makes sense to bring it into UK law, along with all the rest of EU law. The Govt wanted to exclude it. The Lords have just voted to include it. Proud to be part of that majority
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Is this how the PM intends to bring the country together? John Major and Tony Blair between them won 4 General Elections. Perhaps they know something about the role of Prime Minister, and they are both calling for a
#Peoplesvote
.
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As negotiations resume, worth recalling what Boris Johnson said, standing alongside the Irish Premier in Sept 2019, on no deal: ‘Be in no doubt, that outcome would be a failure of statecraft for which we would all be responsible’. He was right.
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PM promised in the election campaign ‘we will make sure that businesses face no extra costs and no checks for stuff being exported from NI to GB’ (15 Nov19), then signed a Treaty containing such checks, then denied it, and now plans to breach the Treaty.
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Important clarification from someone exceptionally well place to make it.
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I don’t think future historians will ask “why Europe failed to achieve an amicable change in its relationship with Britain”. More likely: why did Britain lose all sense of the national interest then make matters worse by ham fisted negotiating ?
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Important to see what Macron actually said. An accurate statement of the position.
So I just subtitled exactly, word for word, what Macron said about sovereignty and Johnson - and not the mangled version you might get in the UK media (or from certain UK politicians) 😀
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At a moment when unity among Western countries is more important than ever, this is shameful.
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The Article 50 process ensured this wouldn’t be a real negotiation, more a painful process of alignment with EU’s requirements. The UK had a weak hand and has played it badly. Cherry-picking wasn’t going to work. Now time to choose between the two options on offer from the start
Almost as if it’s been Norway, Canada or walk away all along - UK been busting a gut for a different model that still can’t get support around EU - doesn’t mean it won’t, but no public sign at all
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There’s no reason to stop The King going. Sunak saying he’s too busy to go himself shows he’s still operating as a departmental minister, who can take one issue at a time. A PM has to handle multiple problems. Take Hunt on the plane to work on the budget!
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Striking that most Tory MPs voted against every option. If just two had switched and voted for Ken Clarke’s customs union it would have passed and the country would at least have a way forward. If PM plan fails again then there will be a crash out. Tory MPs will be responsible.
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I quite agree. How can any Prime Minister say “under no circumstances”? It is quite possible to imagine circumstances in which the current Government does not command a majority in Parliament.
Sorry, but this is not up to May or the Government to determine. Parliament is sovereign & Parliament will decide. Britain is not (yet) an elected dictatorship.
#PeoplesVote
#BrexitShambles
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Came across this comment by Roosevelt to Stalin at Yalta in 1945:
“The British were a peculiar people and wished to have their cake and eat it too”. Plus cà change!
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Erasmus is often misunderstood as ‘just’ about uni student exchanges. That’s hugely important. But it also promoted vocational education and training placements and youth exchanges for schoolchildren. It gave extra grants for those with disabilities. All this = levelling up. 2/7
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@faisalislam
We must not accept this as the new normal in British politics. It is always wrong for an MP to smear a public servant. It is even more irresponsible when Mark Carney, a figure respected around the world, has a crucial role in getting the country through the Brexit mess
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I agree with Simon’s analysis here. Brexit if it happens would be a more serious and lasting blow to Britain’s economic prospects and weight in the world than Suez.
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It is a sign of the times that the British Foreign Secretary was absent from the 70th anniversary meeting of NATO, the alliance that is vital to us and w’d become even more so if Brexit happens. Is this
#GlobalBritain
in action?
Britain post
#Brexit
can be an “invisible chain” linking world’s democracies,
@Jeremy_Hunt
says. But Brexit impasse risks making UK invisible globally as ministers are distracted by crisis at home. The foreign secretary this week missed
@NATO
’s 70th in DC
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In most big negotiations, the last 5% which can’t be agreed in legal text is handled in ‘politically binding’ side letters. Problem is that the EU no longer trust the UK to keep its word. So they insist on nailing it all down in treaty text. Problem of UK’s making.
Whether the UK & EU reach a deal now essentially hangs on a dispute over the conditions the EU is setting the UK to enter its market - & how the Govt views those conditions
This is a clash of ideology - NOT economics; v unclear
@BorisJohnson
can or will agree
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Remember when Brexiteer cheerleaders used to tell us that being in the EU was like being shackled to a corpse?
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Hasn’t Jacinda Ardern been superb? She has shown a combination of empathy and strength in a moment of national crisis which is true leadership.
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One lesson we could usefully learn from Singapore: ever since the 70’s (when I served there as a young diplomat) they have seen their own interest as best served by developing a regional economic grouping to deepen cooperation with their closest neighbours. Seems to have worked!
"Britain’s post-Brexit role should be to act as an invisible chain linking together the democracies of the world, those countries which share our values and support our belief in free trade, the rule of law and open societies."
@Jeremy_Hunt
spoke at
@IISS_org
in Singapore
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Notes to Editors confirm it’s a political appointment. That completely changes the nature of the role, no longer a politically-neutral civil servant giving dispassionate advice. Plus he is made a Peer, so will he be a Minister accountable to Parliament?
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It’s scandalous that the PM is not reporting to Parliament today on his intensive round of meetings representing this country. Another week without accountability. How on earth did MPs vote for a recess this long?
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President of the Commission in her State of the Union speech to the European Parliament today quotes Margaret Thatcher: ‘Britain does not break Treaties. It would be bad for Britain, bad for relations with the rest of the world, and bad for any future Treaty on trade’.
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Over the last 70 years, Germany has been one of the UK’s staunchest allies and friends, and remains so. It’s pretty extraordinary that their Ambassador should feel he has to say this. Patience is wearing thin.
David Frost asks the question whether we Europeans are ready to build a friendly relationship with the UK. Should there be any real doubts? We already enjoy a very friendly relationship. We work on further deepening and adjusting it in the post Brexit context. Should be obvious.
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And I suggest that British Ministers stop saying « the Taleban must » We should recognise that Western influence/leverage is now zero
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Yes, more young people from EU countries came here than Brits other way. But that was a huge benefit for the intellectual and social life of universities all round the country. It created networks of friendship and influence which will be important for post-Brexit Britain. 6/7
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If confirmed, this is both sad and unnecessary. UK could have negotiated a deal to be an associate member of Erasmus and give today’s and tomorrow’s students the life-enhancing chance to immerse in the life of another European country.
🇬🇧students likely to lose access to EU’s Erasmus+ scheme
Michel Barnier told MEPs on Mon that two sides have failed to reach a deal for the 🇬🇧 participation.
Education and business leaders previously pointed out this would “blow a hole” in 🇬🇧 economy.
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Olly Robbins has put huge energy and skill into negotiating the best possible deal he could given the Govt’s red lines. If reports are true that he could be forced out for political reasons that would do real damage to the vital relationship between Ministers and civil servants
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I shall be one of those tomorrow arguing for and voting for the clauses that would break international law to be struck out of the Bill
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Oh dear. With less than a year to go, the PM is still setting out 3 tests which are mutually contradictory and which her Govt cannot therefore meet. Meanwhile the EU waits to know which of the 2 customs plans they’ve already rejected UK will put forward!
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