UK prime minister calls on the EU to be ‘sensible’ and
agree to a Canada-style deal.
By CRISTINA
GALLARDO 9/4/20, 6:52 PM CET Updated 9/4/20, 7:11 PM CET
https://www.politico.eu/article/boris-johnson-uk-will-prosper-mightily-despite-no-deal-brexit/
LONDON —
The EU should be “sensible” and give the U.K. a Brexit deal of the sort it gave
to Canada, the U.K.’s prime minister said Friday, stressing Britain is ready
for any Brexit scenario at the end of the year.
Speaking to
Sky News, Boris Johnson said the public needed to understand the changes coming
after the Brexit transition ends on December 31 and the U.K. severs its ties
with the EU, but stressed Britain “will get through this.”
In a
message seemingly targeted at his counterparts in the EU, Johnson said: “It’s
absolutely vital that our partners understand that the U.K. is going to do what
we need to do. If we have to have an Australia-style deal, an Australia-style
solution, then that is what we will achieve, and we will prosper mightily one
way or the other.”
The future
relationship negotiations have hit a deadlock as neither the EU nor the U.K.
want to give in on state aid or fisheries — the two biggest sticking points
preventing them from signing a deal. The seventh round of talks ended in
Brussels with almost no progress, boosting pessimism on both sides of the
Channel.
Johnson
said the EU could “be sensible and give us a Canada-style solution, which after
all they’ve given Canada, and I hope, very much hope, that they will, but we’re
ready for either eventuality.”
The EU
counters, however, that given the U.K.’s geographical proximity and close ties
with the bloc such a deal is not possible.
The two
negotiating teams will face each other again in London on Tuesday, when the
eighth round of talks starts. Negotiations will last two days and a half,
concluding on Thursday afternoon with a meeting of chief negotiators Michel
Barnier and David Frost.
“We have
scheduled lots of time for discussions, as we should at this point in the
talks,” Frost said. “However, the EU insists we change our position on state
aid and fisheries if there are to be substantive textual discussions on
anything else … We will negotiate constructively but the EU’s stance may,
realistically, limit the progress we can make next week.”
Boris Johnson fascinated by Donald Trump, says
ex-ambassador
PM is intrigued by Trump’s ‘relationship with the
truth’, Kim Darroch writes in new book
PA media
Sat 5 Sep
2020 10.11 BSTLast modified on Sat 5 Sep 2020 10.58 BST
Kim
Darroch, a former British ambassador to the US, has said Boris Johnson is
fascinated and inspired by Donald Trump, and is intrigued by the US president’s
patchy relationship “with the facts and the truth”.
In a new
book serialised in the Times, Lord Darroch said Johnson must share the blame
for his resignation as ambassador to Washington, which followed the leaking of
diplomatic cables disparaging Trump.
Darroch
wrote that Johnson had been “fascinated” by Trump on his visits to Washington
as foreign secretary before he became prime minister, with particular focus on
the president’s use of language.
This
includes “the limited vocabulary, the simplicity of the messaging, the disdain
for political correctness, the sometimes incendiary imagery, and the at best
intermittent relationship with facts and the truth”, the former diplomat wrote.
In an
interview accompanying the excerpts, Darroch was asked if any of those
characteristics had rubbed off on Johnson.
“From what
I hear from colleagues, this government pays a lot of attention to
presentation, to language,” he said.
“But if you
go back through the current prime minister’s history, he’s often said quite
striking things. And he never apologises. So, Boris might have done this
anyway, but certainly, having watched Trump in action, he wouldn’t have been
put off.”
Trump had
also considered Johnson “a kindred spirit”, according to the former ambassador.
Darroch
said he told Johnson he was partly to blame for his resignation from his
Washington post, following the leaking of a cable in which the ambassador said
Trump was “inept” as president.
Johnson,
who was then running for the Conservative leadership, repeatedly refused to say
he would keep Darroch in the post during a TV debate on 9 July last year.
Darroch resigned the next day and spoke with Johnson by phone.
“He said:
‘But why did you resign? Wouldn’t it all have blown over after a few weeks?”’
Darroch told the paper.
In answer
to Johnson’s question as to whether the resignation was his fault, Darroch told
him that “in part it was”.
After
Darroch left the diplomatic corps following a 42-year career, Trump fired back
with a range of epithets, calling him “the wacky ambassador”, “pompous”, and “a
very stupid guy”.
"@realDonaldTrump: The wacky ambassador that the
UK foisted on the United States is not someone we are thrilled with, a very
stupid guy ... We will no longer deal with him."
Kim Darroch
is one of the UK's most experienced and respected diplomats, and this
unvarnished, behind-the-scenes account will reveal the inside story behind his
resignation; describe the challenges of dealing with the Trump White House; and
offer a diplomat's perspective on Brexit, and how it looked to Britain's
closest ally.
Darroch was
the British Ambassador to the US as the age of Trump dawned and Brexit
unfolded. He explains why the British embassy expected a Trump victory from as
early as February 2016, what part every key figure - from Steve Bannon to Sarah
Sanders - has played in Trump's administration, and what balanced policy makers
on both sides of the Atlantic should consider during this era of seismic change
and populist politics.
A riveting
account from the best-informed insider, Collateral Damage charts the strangest
and most convulsive period in the recent history of Britain and the US - and
shows how 30 months threatened to overturn three centuries of history.
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