The Times - UK (2020-08-03)

14 2GM Monday August 3 2020 | the times

News

Boris Johnson is living in “cloud cuckoo
land” if he thinks that the European
Union will give Britain a free trade deal
without signing up to strict “level play-
ing field” rules, his father has said.
Stanley Johnson said that the
government would be forced to back
down on its insistence that it should set
its own farming standards if it wanted
an agreement with Brussels.
The prime minister has repeatedly
rejected taking rules from Brussels. He
argues that the EU must respect the

Prime minister is in cloud cuckoo land on EU trade deal, says father

Oliver Wright Policy Editor autonomy of the UK to set its own envi-
ronmental, social and state aid rules.
His father, however, appears to echo
the arguments put forward by Michel
Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator.
Mr Johnson, 79, said that unless Brit-
ain was prepared to compromise, Brus-
sels would have no guarantee that it
would not reduce standards to under-
cut competitors. “Anybody who thinks,
‘Oh well, we have a free trade agree-
ment with the EU but we don’t have to
bother about harmonisation’ is in cloud
cuckoo land. Why on earth should any-
body give us a free trade agreement if

we’re not going to apply the same sort

of standards to our production pro-

cesses as our competitors are?” he said.

Mr Johnson, who owns a 500-acre

farm on Exmoor, was speaking to the

Sustainable Food Trust, a campaign

group, in a podcast. He also questioned

whether his son would have to compro-

mise on the European Court of Justice.

“When I hear people say, ‘Oh yes and

of course we’re not going to have the

European Court of Justice at all’. Well, I

cannot believe that in the long run, they

will allow us a free trade agreement if

we are seen to be profiting from our

legally independent status to have less

than optimal animal welfare standards

and environmental standards.”

The former MEP supported Remain

in the EU referendum in 2016 but

switched the next year to favour Brexit.

Asked if he had lobbied his son di-

rectly on the issues that concerned him,

Mr Johnson said he had tried but added:

“There is a whole machinery of govern-

ment which is very difficult to bypass.”

Patrick Holden, chief executive of the

trust, said: “Stanley Johnson is

absolutely right that if we do not mirror

existing EU standards on the

environment, food safety and animal

welfare, they will never do a post-Brex-

it, free-trade deal with us.”

Liz Truss, the trade secretary, has in-

sisted that parliament will be “entirely

able” to block post-Brexit trade deals,

despite warnings from backbenchers

that the US and EU would have a great-

er say. Ms Truss, who flew to Washing-

ton at the weekend for talks with the

Trump administration, said that MPs

could resist any free trade agreements

by rejecting relevant laws and passing

motions to halt their progress.

Truss’s promise, page 33

A primary school is facing calls to
drop Rhodes from its title even though
the man whom it is named after has no
apparent links to imperialism.
Rhodes Avenue Primary in north
London takes its name from the
wealthy landowner Thomas Rhodes,
who died when his great nephew Cecil,
the colonialist, was three years old.
Historians say that there is no
evidence that Thomas Rhodes ever met
Cecil or had any colonial interest
himself but the school is now facing
calls to drop its name.
Born in 1762, Rhodes owned a 470-
acre dairy farm between the villages of
Muswell Hill, Wood Green and Horn-
sey and following his death in 1856
parts of the estate were sold off. The
school was later built on the former site

Rhodes’s uncle must go too, school told

of the farmhouse while its grade II list-

ed portico remains on the grounds.

The Rename Rhodes Avenue Pri-

mary campaign said that the name

“cannot be disentangled from the pur-

suit of white supremacy and the dehu-

manisation and subjugation of black

people”. An online petition has attract-

ed more than 600 signatures.

Activists say that the school, which is

rated outstanding, should be renamed

after the anti-apartheid campaigner

Oliver Tambo, who lived in the area

during his years in exile from South

Africa. Earlier this year a banner was

hung on the school’s railings with the

message: “Rename your school after

someone who isn’t a racist imperialist.”

“The fact is that when most people

hear the name Rhodes they think about

Cecil Rhodes and Rhodesia,” the cam-

paign’s Facebook page said. “When

children learn about Rhodes, they will

make that link to their own school.”

Frances Browning, a former pupil

who started the campaign, said: “The

violent legacy of Cecil Rhodes and his

family has been memorialised and im-

mortalised. It is a family name which

cannot be disentangled from the pur-

suit of white supremacy and the dehu-

manisation and subjugation of Black

people.

“We would like to see the name

changed to honour Oliver Tambo. We

feel this would be a beautiful way to

honour this area and the people who

live here and to stand firmly with the

broader Rhodes must Fall movement

and with Black Lives Matter and the

wave of global activism.”

The movement has attracted the

support of local politicians such as

Joseph Ejiofor, the Labour leader of

Haringey council, who said that the

name would never be chosen today.

“If we were naming roads today, we

would never choose Rhodes Avenue,

which is named after Thomas Rhodes,

great uncle to Cecil, an imperialist,

colonialist, and white supremacist,”

he said.

In June anti-racism marches and the

Rhodes Must Fall campaign in Oxford

prompted Oriel College to announce

plans to take down a statue of the

imperialist. The move followed wide-

spread protests organised by the Black

Lives Matter movement earlier that

month, during which a statue in Bristol

of Edward Colston, a 17th-century slave

trader, was toppled and thrown into the

city docks.

Trevor Phillips, former head of the

Equality and Human Rights Commis-

sion and now chairman of the History

Matters project at the Policy Exchange

think tank, said that protesters needed

to focus on the future.

He told The Mail on Sunday: “I find it

puzzling that the most important thing

about this school is thought to be its

name, which refers not to Cecil Rhodes,

but to Thomas, who can hardly be held

responsible for his great-nephew’s

actions. Rather than trying to erase a

tenuous link with the past, shouldn’t we

be focusing on the black lives of the

future?”

Neil Johnston

Rhodes Avenue is

named after the

great uncle of the

colonialist Cecil

P

rotesters in

combat vests

labelled “FF

Force” staged a

peaceful event

in south London

organised by an

anti-violence

campaigner and rapper

(Jack Malvern writes).

Video of the Forever

Family group showed

members behaving like

soldiers on parade at the

weekend as a leader

shouted orders such as

“Atten-hut” and “right

face”.

Nigel Farage, the

Brexit campaigner,

described the use of

uniforms as “terrifying

scenes”. The Times

understands, however,

that the use of stab vests

originated from a

movement to reassure

communities afflicted by

gang violence. Forever

Family, founded last

month, was taking part

in a march in Brixton

for Afrikan

Emancipation Day, held

annually on August 1 to

mark the day in 1834

when the Abolition of

Slavery Act came into

force.

The director of

Forever Family, which

was incorporated on

June 20, is Khari

McKenzie, 28, a rapper

who performs under the

stage name Raspect. He

became politically active

in 2011 after the

shooting of Mark

Duggan by police.

Mr McKenzie has also

been a member of

G.A.N.G, a group that

would respond to

incidents of gang

violence by going to the

area dressed in stab

vests and using a

loudhailer to encourage

residents to come out on

to the street to “reclaim

the space” for the

community. Neither Mr

McKenzie nor Rachelle

Emanuel, 27, who is

listed by Companies

House as secretary of

Forever Family,

responded to a request

for comment.

Mr McKenzie, from

Ilford, east London,

issued a video before

the march urging

people to join in a

peaceful protest.

“It’s going to be a

clean, happy,

family friendly

[event],” he

said. “We are

the reinforcements

tomorrow for our

elders.”

The Metropolitan

Police described the

Brixton event as “a

successful day without

antisocial behaviour or

violence, resulting in

just three arrests”.

One man was arrested

for affray, one for assault

on an emergency service

worker and one woman

for racially aggravated

assault.

Laurence Taylor, the

deputy assistant

commissioner in charge

of policing the

operation, said: “The

gatherings today have

been largely peaceful.”

Forever Family posted

a video on Instagram

stating that it was

“united in the battle

against racism,

inequality and injustice”.

It said that its purpose

was to “mobilise,

organise and centralise

community initiatives”.

“We are forever family

united in building a

self-sufficient and

stable community.

“We value the safety

of our senior and

junior generation.

Their voices will

be the motivation

in what we stand

for.”

Protesters in fatigues

mark end of slavery

The Forever Family protest

in south London passed

peacefully, said police.

Khari McKenzie, below, a

director of the movement,

called for a “happy event”

GUY BELL/REX; ALAMY