Ex Brit Shambles

“Juncker’s team now think it more likely than not that Brexit talks will collapse & hope Brits wake up to harsh realities in time.”

The reports of Theresa May’s meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker last week should be very worrying regardless of whether you support Brexit or not.

It’s not a case of being for or against Brexit, it’s about whether you have any faith in the competence and values of the Prime Minister and her team.

The British ‘strategy’ is now completely exposed, and her utter powerlessness, about even the most simple details, is completely open for all to see. Given that her entire electoral plan is based on projecting her as someone of immense power and stability, this is a hilarious juxtaposition amplified by her complete inability to make rapport with colleagues, voters or European counterparts. She is deeply in denial about her/our circumstances born aloft on a cushion of hubris and introspection, a form that the Anglo-British elite have honed into an art.

An account in the German newspaper FAZ (the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) today on May’s disastrous dinner with Juncker – is absolutely damning.

Here we have Storified Jeremy Cliffe’s twitter thread on the issue, just to help clarify things. He is the Berlin Bureau Chief at The Economist.

Comments (24)

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  1. inverschnecky says:

    Wow, the UK debt to the Eu and the JHA opt-outs. And there was me thinking that freedom of movement would torpedo the brexiteers.

    As for the poor workee’s losing their jobs – https://ig.ft.com/sites/brexit-companies/
    – I havenae got the heart to say – You yes yet?

  2. Alan says:

    Illusions? Merkel is being polite. May and her Brexiters are completely delusional. What worries me is that there are more than a few in Scotland who will vote to go over the cliff with these maniacs. I can accept there are plenty of people who dislike the SNP, and dislike the idea independence, but WTF makes anyone think where we are heading under May is even remotely sane? Even Thatcher era Tories think this is batshit crazy.

  3. Redgauntlet says:

    Brexit turns to Brexshit, and the negotiations haven’t even started…

  4. Redgauntlet says:

    Brexit turns to Brexshit, and the negotiations haven’t even started….

  5. Stuart says:

    As a German speaker, let me summarise the FAZ article for those who don’t want to wade through it.

    Britain is screwed.

    There you go.

    1. Thanks Stuart, that’s a useful translation service you have there

  6. Donnie MacLear says:

    Do you trust Mrs May or the tories in general?

    Three topical items from past three weeks:

    1. Rape clause
    2. No election, now we are having an elections
    3. No response to Scottish Parliament regards Independence referendum

    Now we have a plausible European leader and described by most commentators, as a decent man highlighting that Mrs May is delusional!

    Need I answer my own opening question?

  7. bringiton says:

    The thing that worries the Westminster establishment more than anything else is disclosure.
    The idea of negotiations being conducted in public is complete anathema to the London mob and since the EU has very little to lose by so doing……
    If you want to find out how the mob are trying to shaft Scotland then read Le Monde or Der Spiegel because London will do everything it can to suppress information getting into the UK public domain.
    Their hopes of spinning a complete disaster into something Joe Public will accept are disappearing fast and walking away is probably their best bet.
    Laughing stock is an understatement.

  8. Graeme McCormick says:

    I don’t normally have much time for coalitions but Brexit is so monumental is there not something to be said for the SNP, Plaid, Labour, Greens and Lib Dems to agree that if they have more MPs than the Tories they’ll form a grand coalition negotiating team for Brexit separate from the Day Job of Westminster government?

  9. Heidstaethefire says:

    Nicola should invite him up for a fish supper. They’ll get on famously.

  10. douglas clark says:

    I think that between now and the election Theresa may’s mob will haemorrhage votes in an unprecedented way. I think she will lose.

    1. Jo says:

      You’d think so Douglas, wouldn’t you? And yet, Diane Abbot, shadow Home Secretary has made a monumental fool of her Party today by screwing up spending figures on increasing police numbers for E&W. It was utterly cringe worthy! What an embarrassment.

  11. Jim McNab says:

    When it comes trade deals, the uk will be at the back of the line.

    This has been spelt out to the uk government by the US who have now said the EU trade deal will come before the uk trade deal.

    It now seems the tories have made such a mess of early negotiations that the EU is already contemplating failure, very seriously

    What does failure mean?

    Add 20% cost to Scottish and uk goods being sold in Europe overnight and subsequent order cancellations that will soon become job loses.

    Do you want to be on benefits post brexit in a right wing ruled tory uk?

    uk’s chief goal will be to protect the city of London, so even if there is a deal, expect fishing and Scotland to be sold down the river.

    This does not need to happen to Scotland if we decide to take control of our own affairs.

    What bigger way for the EU to sitck two fingers up to the uk than to accept Scotland readily into the EU family. And by actions to date, e.g. Irish border and EU nationals in uk – the EU goes all out to support people before trade!

    With uk, its trade before people!

  12. Alf Baird says:

    Das Brexit-Dinner sounds like something straight out of a Yes Minister sketch. Juncker certainly dropped one on No 10. The Tories evidently had no idea things would go this far when they set up UKIP to destroy Labour. What a shambles. Scotland can do infinitely better without this bunch of privileged eejits. All they and their kind do is hold Scotland down and continually embarrass our nation, globally. Most other colonies kicked them out long ago and Scotland needs to do the same, before it is too late.

  13. bringiton says:

    For those old enough to remember,sounds like Juncker just had a visit with the Soup Dragon and the Clangers!

  14. Willie says:

    Quite frankly this is going to be our own economic and social holocaust that these right wing Brits are leading us in to.

    Living standards and quality will drop for the many and rise for the few as we stride the world stage as the busted flush of Empire. Like lambs to the slaughter, and the last century showed us many examples of that, we’re actually voting for this. Unlike Ireland in the 1800’s when they were starved to death, we’ve not had our faces sufficiently ground into the gutter yet.

    It’s the union dividend that we voted for.

  15. John says:

    Time for the May to stand aside , she is making a complete fool of the British people . The British people did not vote for this farce , in fact the British people did not know what they were voting for , it’s May that is deciding what we want . Get rid of her , send Sturgeon in to sort her mess out !

  16. David Rhodes says:

    Without a shred of a doubt we are heading directly for the rocks with not only the helmsman blindfolded but stark staring bonkers as well. The Tories NEVER expected Brexit to happen in the first place and now it has they have not the slightest idea of what to do. They will turn this country into the the low wage, low living standards, low life expectancy that existed in Victorian times. Not to worry too much as the wealthy will be well cushioned and the London/South elite will carry on as if nothing has changed. As an Englishman (with good Scottish friends) i can only say to those North of the border, Wales AND Northern Ireland, break free of this dead weight that is GB and go it alone. You have nothing to lose but the Tories!!

  17. Chris Clark says:

    We have our own Local Elections on Thursday. It’s vital that as many of us as possible vote for a candidate who openly supports Scottish Independence. We are being told it’s about local issues but, be assured, Kim Jong-Ruth and her buddies in the media will claim that any votes for candidates of the Yoon/Kipper persuasion is a clear indication that “the Scottish people don’t want Indy-Ref 2”. Vote, vote, vote for those who vocally support Independence.

  18. florian albert says:

    The story about an account of the meeting between May and Juncker should be understood for what it is; part of a propaganda war around the negotiations over Brexit.
    Not all propaganda is as direct as Theresa May constantly repeating. ‘a strong and stable government.’
    Good journalism requires skepticism and not only towards those you oppose.
    It is worth repeating that Juncker got his job because he is, politically, a lightweight; somebody who can be supported or ignored as it suits the real powerbroker, Angela Merkel.

  19. Willie says:

    Interesting that in response to the dinner party leak the arch Tory Sir Bill Cash of the European scrutiny committee has said that ” what they ( the Germans ) are trying to exploit is a new Project Fear……..that will not work on the British people ”

    Worked on the Scots when they were told that only by voting No would 1) their pensions be safe and 2) would they remain in Europe.

  20. Willie says:

    And today there’s now a statement from The UK Brexit secretary David Davis that ….” the U.K. Could legally walk away with nothing to pay ”

    What an absolute mess. We’re at war with Europe without a plan. Toilet time awaits the UK methinks.

    Well maybe we’ll be pointing our nuclear missiles at the EU next. That would make Johnny Foreigner come to his senses. Proud to be British eh what!

  21. Robert says:

    I thank Bella for continuing to be one of the few media sites pulling no punches about the clusterfuck that is Brexit and the UK in general.

    It’s clear there is some way still to go before we hit bottom. The next Tory government however will do everything they can to get us there as quickly as possible…

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