4 NEWS
THE WEEK3August 2019
The main stories...
negotiate and be opposed by many of
his backers, andano-deal exit, which
is opposed byamajority in Parliament.What chance is there that European
negotiators will agree to dump the hated
backstop, which is designed to keep the
UK inacustoms union with the EU until
an alternative arrangement is found to
avoidahard border in Ireland? “Pretty
much nil” in my view, said Niall Ferguson
in The Sunday Times. “Why would they
give Boris (whom they all despise) the
break they denied May? Why would
they give up the united front they have
maintained for more than three years?”
The initial instinct of the EU will almost
certainly be “to call Boris’s bluff”, said
James Forsyth in The Spectator. But if he can rally voters to
his cause, thereby putting pressure on MPs and raising doubts
about whether Parliament really would or could stopano-deal
Brexit, that might test the EU’s resolve. Leo Varadkar, the
Taoiseach, would have to decide “whether it is worth rigidly
persisting withabackstop that
is going to cause the very thing
it was meant to avoid,ahard
border on the island of
Ireland”.Many suspect that the
“Vote Leave cohort” actively favourano-deal outcome, said
Matthew d’Ancona in The Guardian, butIdon’t think that’s
true. In the 2016 referendum campaign, these same people
“maintained thatadeal with the EU was desirable and
achievable”. But make no mistake: they’re not bluffing about
their determination to take Britain out of the EU on 31
October, as they fear any further delay “could wreck all they
fought for in 2016”. The extra millions now being poured into
accelerated no-deal preparations are not all for show. “This is
exactly what it looks like:aGovernment bracing foravery
bumpy exit.” European leaders need to do the same, said
Wolfgang Münchau in the FT. While the EU has readied itself
on atechnical level, it hasn’t prepared voters for the economic
impact ofalarge country such as Britain leaving the customs
union and single market overnight, because it has regarded
that as suchavanishingly unlikely outcome. The German
media have spent their time complacently speculating about
asecond referendum, or mocking Johnson’s “buffoonery”.
It’s impossible to predict what will happen in British politics
over the course of the next three months, but one thing’s for
sure: “If this ends inano-deal Brexit, much of the EU will not
have seen it coming.”This is not how the “Johnson era” was
supposed to begin, said Dan Hodges in
The Mail on Sunday. Opponents of the
new Prime Minister had predicted a
“flurry of good-natured bombast” and
“well-intentioned confusion”. Instead,
we’ve hadadisplay of “single-minded,
focused ruthlessness”. Before taking the
battle to Jeremy Corbyn this week with
aseries of new spending plans, Boris
Johnson carried out the biggest cabinet
cull in almost 60 years, replacing more
than half of its members. Out went
anyone who wasn’t fully committed to
Britain leaving the EU on 31 October,
with or withoutadeal, such as James
Brokenshire and David Lidington. Out,
too, went anyone who had backed
Johnson’s leadership rival Jeremy Hunt, such as Liam Fox and
Penny Mordaunt. In came robust Brexiteers such as Dominic
Raab and Andrea Leadsom. People called for Theresa May to
“chop away the dead wood”, remarked one MP. “Well, Boris
has done that. And then he’s gone and chopped down the
entire forest.”Johnson has certainly got off to
abold start, said The Sunday
Times. “A Tory government
that was dying on its feet has
been re-energised.” This is the
administration that we should have got three years ago.
By abandoning the “tens of thousands” immigration limit
and stressing that he wants EU citizens to stay, Johnson is
rightly making clear that Brexit “should be the expression
of aconfident, democratic nation, not an insular retreat
fromamalevolent world”. Obviously, it’s early days and
every new PM “enjoysabounce”, but Johnson’s upbeat
and focused approach to Brexit, along with his first
“barnstorming” appearance in the Commons last week,
are grounds for optimism.On the contrary, there is nothing to cheer about this govern-
ment takeover by the “Vote Leave” campaign, said Jonathan
Freedland in The Guardian. The only consolation is that it
does at least mean Johnson and his team have complete
responsibility for Brexit. “There will be no one else to blame,
and no place to hide” when things go wrong. As they surely
will, said Martin Kettle in the same paper. Johnson, who
insists he won’t restart formal talks with the EU unless it
agrees to ditch the Irish backstop, has “boxed himself in on
Brexit”. In the end, he’ll have to choose between an adapted
version of May’s withdrawal deal, which would take time toJohnson: “focused ruthlessness”
All change at No.10: the Brexiters take over
COVER CARTOON: HOWARD MCWILLIAM
It wasn’t all bad
Ethiopians planted 350 million
trees on Monday, in what
officials claimed to beaworld
record. The effort is part of an
ambitious programme by Prime
Minister Abiy Ahmed to plant
four billion trees between May
and October, to help restore the
country’s landscape. Less than
4% of Ethiopia’s land is now
covered by forest, down from
around 30% at the end of the
19th century. Students and
government officials took part
in the mass project, supported
by international aid groups.APolish WWII veteran and the
Polish nurse who treated him
in amilitary hospital in Italy in
1944 have been reunited in a
British care home. Waclaw
Domagala, 94, says he never
forgot the “angel” who nursed
him back to health after his leg
had to be amputated following
the Battle of Monte Cassino. So
when Maria Kowalska turned
up at the Devon care home for
members of Polish forces who
served under British command,
he recognised her straight
away, although she was 21
in 1944, and is now 96. “How
couldIforget her?” he said.India’s wild tiger
population has increased
by 33% in the past four
years, raising hopes for
the survival of the
endangered big cats. The
latest survey shows there
are now 2,967 tigers, up
from 2,226 at the last
count. Theestimate is
based on observationsby
44,000 field staff who
surveyed 146,000 square
miles of land, as well as 350,000 images from 26,000 camera traps
in tiger habitats. Some conservation experts have pointed out that
spotting tigers may simply have become easier as more are
squeezed into protected areas, but the number of these areas
in India has also risen, from 692 in 2014 to 860 last year.“People called for May to ‘chop away the dead
wood’. Well, Boris has done that. And then he’s
gone and chopped down the entire forest”