Their frivolity was summed up by David Davis dismissing EU negotiator Michel Barnier as “silly”. But silliness is now Britain’s official position. Those who holidayed in the EU this summer will have met that amazement from taxi drivers, bartenders, students and old-timers alike: they think we are mad. And so we are. What else can they make of a country with Boris Johnson as foreign secretary? According to Sunday’s Survation poll, he is favourite to take over from Theresa May, with Jacob Rees-Mogg in second place. As if despairing of politics, many voters seem to prefer any alternative reality to the one we face.
In just a year the deal must be done, in time to be ratified by the 27 nations by March 2019. Our government has approached it like a bunch of England football fans, shouting: “Who won the war?” Supposedly sober politicians boast loudly that they need us more than we need them: “We hold all the cards!” Those with delusions about Britain’s importance should note that in Sunday’s election debate between Angela Merkel and Martin Schultz, Brexit was not mentioned once. The EU faces many crises – migration flows across the Mediterranean, Ukraine at war with Russia, Donald Trump and North Korea – and the relentless burning and flooding of our planet. [...]
The UK’s realm of fantasy unravels embarrassingly fast. Only two weeks ago one policy paper proposed an “innovative” and “unprecedented” system to abolish customs checks by electronically tagging goods, cleverly passing on any dues to the EU. It was pure magic, as the EU protested. Only a fortnight later Davis had to take it off the table because no one has invented it: “It was a blue sky idea”, he said with that jovial nonchalance whose charm is fast wearing thin.
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