International Development Secretary: “Why do we even still hold on to Gibraltar?”

Leaked Cabinet discussions reveal senior ministers’ views on the Gibraltar crisis, and the Brexit Secretary’s plan to “set up a sword to fall on.”

International Development Secretary snapcrackle has questioned why we still “hold on” to Gibraltar.

Leaked transcripts of the cabinet’s discussions on the Gibraltar crisis that has been consuming the government since earlier this week have revealed the views of some senior ministers on the Rock’s status as a British overseas territory and the controversial proposed deal agreed between the British and Spanish governments. The leaked comments are likely to just add further fuel to a fire that has proved deeply damaging for a government that has been repeatedly attacked in a series of highly unusual moves by Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo.



During the discussions, International Development Secretary snapcrackle asked his cabinet colleagues “why is this Gibraltar thing even controversial?”, to which Minister Without Portfolio, Former Scotland Secretary and Classical Liberal grandee Duncs11 responded “it’s pretty standard tbh [sic]. Because Tories. Any compromise is bad.” This was followed up Mr Crackle wondering, in a line that will likely spark fury and consternation among Gibraltar’s leaders, “why do we even still hold on to Gibraltar?”



A referendum was held on shared sovereignty over Gibraltar between Britain and Spain in 2002, which was rejected by 98.97% of voters on an 87.9% turnout. In recent days Mr Picardo has attacked the proposed deal between Spain and Britain over the future of Gibraltar – which would have seen everyone born Gibraltarian given Spanish citizenship – as “dual sovereignty by the back door”. The government agreed to the Spanish proposals without negotiation, with their announcement being made by the Spanish government.

Brexit Secretary Twistednuke confirmed on Thursday that this deal was “dead in the water”, but had seemingly not informed the Spanish Foreign Secretary Josep Borrell who tweeted “I will be demanding answers from the british [sic] government about this weeks [sic] preposterous charade”. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary CDocwra was left out of the discussions and resigned over the deal. When asked in the House of Commons whether the Prime Minister was aware of the deal, Mr Nuke did not respond.



When asked during an Urgent Question session on a statement by EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, which was inevitably dominated by Gibraltar, why Parliament was not informed of the deal and why MPs found out from the Spanish government, Mr Nuke told Labour Leader WillShakespeare99 that “the negotiations were still ongoing, no legal text on any bilateral agreement between Spain and Gibraltar has been written, and as such the talks are still at a preliminary stage. It would be very irresponsible of me to come and discuss ongoing talks before any text has been written, as the nature of agreements change greatly from the beginning to the end of discussions.” When questioned on why the Spanish government made the announcement if negotiations were still on-going, he replied “It is government policy to not discuss ongoing negotiations without the explicit consent of the other party, as to do so would undermine the trust present in those negotiations.”



The Gibraltar Crisis, which has sparked deep anger on the Rock, has led to threats of independence by Mr Picardo of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party and the Parliamentary Leader of Gibraltar’s Opposition Social Democrats Elliott Phillips. On this possibility, Mr 11, who quit as Scotland Secretary after the House of Commons passed a motion of confidence in him over his record of controversial comments, told cabinet ministers “I doubt Gibraltar have the legal power to hold an independence referendum or UDI [Universal Declaration of Independence], so that’s an empty threat.”



Recognising the difficulty facing the government, Mr Nuke paged his cabinet colleagues ahead of a statement by Chief Minister Picardo, telling them “just to reiterate, whatever this statement from [G]ibraltar is today, do nothing and say nothing, I will sort it tomorrow but if we rush out some statement, it will only be harder to damage control the situation.” When asked when it was expected, the Classical Liberal Deputy Leader said “Don’t know… But we need to maintain collective responsibility here, dw [don’t worry] about anything, I’m already making plans for damage mitigation.. If worst comes to worst I’ll set up a sword to fall on so it deflects blame from the gov[ernment].”

When asked for a comment on the leaks, Mr Nuke told the Guardian “I have no comment on the first image, for the second, part of the Gibraltar letter mentioned the possibility of Gibraltan Independence, so we discussed if there was a legal basis for that, for the third that’s just standard collective responsibility which all governments practice.” Asked to elaborate on his “sword to fall on” comment, he said “I was saying that I would take the blame for the crisis that was ongoing if it got out of control, that’s quite proper since it was my department. This is a sword for me to fall on, but with a leak out of context that’s not clear.”

On his own comments about the magnitude of the Gibraltar crisis and Gibraltar’s status, Mr Crackle said “Look, most of the opposition to the Gibraltar thing is just needless political positioning. The government has apologised, and will continue to apologise if it will help mend relations with Gibraltar, but seeing as the Opposition will just continue to be political opportunists.”

He went on to say that “there was some context missing there, in the whole thing, about my comment. Duncs and Twisted explained that Gibraltar was an integral part to the United Kingdom, and I agreed with them and understood.” Mr 11 has declined to comment.

These comments look set to only deepen the government’s Brexit woes after a hellish week, which also saw Transport Secretary bloodycontrary take to Twitter last night after the publication of our piece on the Opposition Day Debate motion rejecting a so-called “People’s Vote” on the final Brexit deal to call Brexit “a stupid idea. There, I said it. It’s stupid. You can’t do brexit without violating the GFA. You can’t do brexit without harming the financial security of the country.”



He went on, “And it seems to me there are two kinds of brexiter in Parliament right now. The kind of masochistic weirdo who thinks blue passports, SUPER EASY trade deals and a wholly imagined return of sovereignty are around the corner. And the type who slavishly follow the polls in the hope they offend as few people as possible in order not to lose their party any seats.”

“Just in case it isn’t clear, the final part refers mostly to people in the Tories and Labour parties – especially the latter – who apparently know that leaving the EU is a very stupid idea but don’t want to say so in public, or hide behind the veneer of ‘well there was a referendum, so i don’t have to put any work in to say why the result was bad’!”



When asked by the EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier what sort of Brexiteer Mr Nuke was, Mr Contrary responded “He’s the unfortunate soul who’s been forced into negotiating a deal that is quite obviously only going to be worse for everybody involved.” He later accused “brexit zealots” in the Tories and Labour over having “no other ideas” and having had achieved “nothing with Brexit” during the Grand Coalition. On the 50 MPs who supported the Tory motion, he said “Parliament contains around 50 absolute cowards who are either too stupid or too malicious to reveal a considered opinion on brexit.”

Shadow Brexit Secretary InfernoPlato responded to Mr Contrary with the link to a statement entitled “Joint report on the progress of Citizen Rights during phase 1 of negotiations under Article 50 TEU on the UK’s orderly withdrawal from the EU,” published during the Conservative government which preceded the Liberal Alliance.

Mr Nuke said Mr Contrary “is a man entitled to his deeply held beliefs, I think a broad range of opinions and rigorous but civil debate is a strength for a government, not a weakness. I fundamentally disagree and feel that Brexit if done correctly will be of great benefit to the country, and the government’s Brexit plan will do just that.”



