Jo Johnson

Diary – 15 November 2018

Jacob Rees-Mogg observed that my resignation last week was ‘the “Emperor’s New Clothes” moment in the Brexit process’. If this is right, that makes me the child, too young to understand the importance of maintaining pretences, who blurts out before the embarrassed townsfolk that the emperor is naked. I’ve been surprised by the noisy reaction to my departure from the middle ranks of the government. The video I made in my office setting out my reasons for going had two million views in two days. Maybe this is an example of Orwell’s dictum that in a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

The deceit is that we’re making a success of Brexit. William Hague once described the goal of Conservative policy as being ‘in Europe, but not run by Europe’. The government’s proposals will see us out of Europe, yet run by Europe, bound by rules which we will have lost a hand in shaping. Worse still, there is no real clarity about how this situation will ever end. The proposed Withdrawal Agreement parks many of the biggest issues about our future relationship with Europe into a boundless transitionary period. This is a con: there is no evidence that the kind of Brexit that we’ve failed to negotiate while we are still members can be magically agreed on once we’ve lost our seat at the table.

The ‘deal’ the PM is now finalising in Brussels and across Whitehall makes Brexit an entirely self-defeating and pointless exercise. Will we be able to do worthwhile trade deals with third countries? No. Could we turn ourselves into a low regulation tiger economy? No. Will we ‘take back control’? No, we cede control to the other European countries that will determine the rules governing huge swathes of our economy.

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