Brexit, the only battle that unites the conservatives | International

The pandemic managed to bury the most destructive controversy in recent British political history for a few months, but Brexit was still there. As the end of the transitional period agreed with the EU draws near and the prospect of a trade deal fades, the Eurosceptic wing of the Conservative Party has risen to prevent Boris Johnson from taking a step back. Its main voices have raised the tone of disqualification – to accuse Brussels of not having the “basic respect for democratic principles” – and nationalist. The leader of the Labor opposition, Keir Starmer, who suggested that he would be willing to back Johnson if he succeeded in striking a deal, is again facing an internal rebellion in his party.

The prime minister confirmed this Thursday that there is “a high probability” that an agreement with Brussels will not be reached, and has asked citizens and companies to prepare for this situation. Johnson brought all his ministers together to explain that “the offer on the table is not the deal the UK needs right now,” and won the unanimous support of the entire Cabinet.

Downing Street sources assured, when the star adviser and ideologue of Brexit, Dominic Cummings fell from grace in mid-November, that nothing was going to change in the firmness against the EU. The first convinced that the United Kingdom would prosper in the future “with or without agreement”, they said, was Johnson. The massive economic crisis caused by the coronavirus, however, led the more moderate conservatives to conclude that the prime minister could not afford to aggravate the situation with a sharp and uncertain breakout on December 31, for which British companies would not. they were ready. “I have no doubt that, as of January 1, this country is going to prosper mightily,” Johnson settled the debate Wednesday in the House of Commons.

The tories more eurosceptics, who had been silent since the beginning of the year and gave the impression of considering Brexit a conquered peak, have taken up an aggressive nationalist discourse to convince citizens that it all comes down to a fight in defense of the sovereignty of the United Kingdom . “Of course there will be some potholes in the road, but that is what any change consists of,” Foreign Minister Dominic Raab assured this Thursday. “We are not going to allow them to treat us in a way that no other country would accept, that the EU itself would not accept. It all comes down to respect for basic democratic principles ”, he said.

The British Parliament remains subject to strict social distancing rules that keep its seats half empty. The Johnson government also achieved an overwhelming majority in the general elections on December 12, and in those elections expelled a large number of supporters in its own ranks from the stay of the United Kingdom in the EU. That is why the House of Commons is no longer the scene of skirmishes around Brexit like those experienced at the end of 2019. Only the Scottish nationalists of the SNP, aware that a disorderly abandonment of ties with the European continent will give wings to their The independence momentum has resumed, and some isolated Labor Party members, such as Hillary Benn, have raised their voices in the face of the prospect that next Sunday London and Brussels will end the negotiations. The president of the Parliamentary Commission on Future Relations with the EU demanded this Thursday the Government to show a comparative economic analysis of the advantages of a Brexit without agreement to another agreement. The response to Benn, from a staunch eurosceptic like Penny Mordaunt, Treasurer General of the Government (with the rank of Secretary of State), was a blanket call on the opposition to show loyalty to the Executive at a crucial moment, and recovery of the proBrexit slogans of the 2016 referendum. “Only an agreement is possible that is compatible with our sovereignty, and that serves to regain control of our laws, our trade and our waters,” said Mordaunt.

Like Captain Renault in Casablanca, when scandalized that in Rick’s premises there is illegal gambling while claiming his winnings, the most combative eurosceptics have described as “scandalous blackmail” the fact that Brussels finally published its emergency plan on Thursday to cushion a hard Brexit. “They do nothing more than confirm that they have not yet understood that we are no longer a member state,” Deputy David Jones assured the Daily Mail, without remembering that the British Government itself has already published several of these contingency plans so far this year.

Paradoxically, the replacement of Jeremy Corbyn at the head of the Labor Party, Keir Starmer, who for three years was the voice of those who demanded in his formation an orderly Brexit and even a second referendum, now faces a devilish dilemma. Convinced that left-wing voters wanted to turn the page on Brexit and forget the ambiguity that the party displayed in that debate, Starmer bet his strategy on Johnson cooking in his own juice and showing at the end of this year if he was capable of reach the promised agreement with the EU. “If a pact is closed, Labor will vote in defense of the national interest, and not in a partisan way,” said the opposition leader last Wednesday in his confrontation with Johnson.

But there are already at least a third of the deputies of his parliamentary group who threaten to abstain if the Government brings to the Chamber a minimum agreement with the EU. And many of them are reluctant to silence their voices if Johnson ends up leading the country towards a hard Brexit. Starmer has been led into the same ambiguity that he reproached his predecessor, Corbyn. The Labor leader, cross-examined by journalists on Wednesday, was unable to clarify whether or not he would support an agreement, saying only that he should study its content first. “We need it to save jobs and companies, because the consequences of not having an agreement will be serious,” repeated one of his spokesmen. Starmer’s indecision was a gift to a prime minister in low hours of popularity, who has clung to his favorite flag. Johnson reproached Starmer for being deaf and mute about Brexit during all these months, and launched into a promise – without clarifying how – that jobs will be created again across the United Kingdom from next year.

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