“Gentlemen of France, would you care to fire first?” - British Officer, the Battle of Fontenoy (1747).

As originally predicted when I started writing these articles, the Prime Minister has now officially asked the Government to support a Soft Brexit (in plan at least). Unfortunately what this means is nobody has what they want. We now have what can only be described as a vassal-state relationship to the EU. We do not have freedom from Brexit rules. We no longer are allowed to vote on or influence them.

How did we get here?

There was a point over the weekend when it might have been easier to just live-blog what was going on. David Davis, the oxymoron known both for his loyalty and his maveric streak, was the first to go. I personally have always admired his integrity, especially since he forced the by-election over jailing terror suspects without trial ten years ago.

If Boris Johnson had resigned with Davis, he may have had the credibility (or at least the momentum) to have started the Major Revolt that Brexiteers have been promising. Maybe he knew that, and maybe that’s why he dithered. Maybe he thought the Brexiteers would follow him, maybe they almost did. I’m not sure how Rees “or else” Mogg would feel about handing the Brexit reins back to Boris, though.

But we’re here to bury Johnson’s career, not to praise it. The evil that politicians do often lives on after their tenure, the good buried under their Duck Island. So no, I am not ready to forgive Boris for what he has done. His betrayal of David Cameron moments before the crucial Brexit Vote was a calculated power-grab, and he gambled the future of our country on his own perfidious ambitions. Of course, with all the fraudulent campaigning and over-spending by campaigners and obvious media bias it is hard to blame just Boris. We should still hold the media, determined to protect their own interests at the expense of the country, wholly accountable.

The rump Tory party had told Boris that if he still has ambitions to lead he must not stand down. Theresa May, who won the election to party leader fairly when Boris decided not to run, seemed to believe Boris ambitious. Putting him in the position of Foreign Office then stripping the Office of all power, lauded at the time as a brilliant strategic move, showed how little love May has for Boris. If Boris is ambitious, even in a politician, it is a grievous fault. Grievously has Boris now answered for it; his credibility shot and his likelihood of ever achieving high office again being extremely slim.

But let’s really talk about Boris. Did he believe in leaving the EU? Yes, he did. Did he think it was best for the country? Maybe not, maybe that is why he waited until it wouldn’t matter either way before declaring which side he would fall on (it’s little remembered now but in the run up to the referendum Boris played his cards close to his chest). Did he once say “f*ck business”? Yes. Did he mean it? Maybe. Could he be trusted with Brexit? Obviously.

Again, I’m not here to defend Boris. But we should remember that it was Boris, as co-chair of the Olympic board, that played a pivotal role in London 2012 being such a resounding international success. Indeed his tenure as London Mayor was marked with much success. I still remember visiting the capitol in those years, overhearing from a young father how “Mr. Boris” had introduced cycle lanes as well as ‘Boris Bikes’. Even then, as a young new graduate, I was slightly envious of the success Boris had managed. I was certainly jealous of how well respected he was.

Boris has always been to the left of the Conservatives. Before David Cameron this was a pretty untenable position to be in if you wanted to be leader. They say Boris wants nothing more than to be party leader. Wanting to introduce a general amnesty for illegal immigrants is a pretty funny thing for someone who wants to be party leader to suggest. Does this sound like ambition to you? Does this sound like someone who would deliberately create a toxic feeling toward immigrants for votes?





We’re told that Boris has a narrow interest and is only focused on what can benefit Boris, which is why he supported Brexit. He’s loosely (but intangibly) implied to have some kind of financial interest in everything he has supported. If this is the case, I wonder how his “fat cat friends” (whatever that means) reacted to him throwing his entire frame behind the London Living Wage? Well before, I should add, my own ‘Old Labour’ run council supported a Manchester Living Wage (whatever that means, too). Ambitious Tories should be made of much sterner stuff.

'Floccinaucinihilipilification' - Jacob Rees-Mogg.

But the media wants you to know Boris was ambitious, and like most MPs I imagine he is. Of course he has yet to actually ever run for Conservative Party Leader. Three times in the past four years the media has lauded Boris as the next leader, and each time he has refused. But I’m sure The Mainstream Media has our best interests at heart, and The Mainstream Media is certain Boris is ambitious.

Was Boris Johnson corrupt? He was caught up in the Parliamentary expenses scandal. It is thought he over-used taxis. A problem I have with my significant other, but not exactly a deal-breaker for me as far as integrity in long-term relationships go.

It’s been claimed that Boris Johnson supported Brexit because he is a demagogue. He will say anything to be elected, that he is a "great supine protoplasmic invertebrate jelly" to quote Boris directly. Yet it was Boris who refused to join in the heckling from MPs who, with all the conviction of a “fun” Uncle who wants to join in with the kids hating on “fakes”, started bashing the bankers they had legally empowered and then encouraged to gamble with pensions and savings. In 2008, when the country was on its knees, he refused to give in to populism.

I don’t think it would be hard for anyone to intuit that I’d prefer not to leave the EU. I don’t think anyone who voted for Brexit voted for this. I don’t think anyone who thinks Brexit is wrong is happy with what we have. Now it seems that we won’t have any financial mutual recognition, we can at least console ourselves that we’ll be a lot poorer than now.

Maybe I should be happy we have what I wanted, a soft Brexit. But I’m not. I’m just angry.

Views are the authors own.