Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Denzil_DC

(7,233 posts)
Thu Jun 7, 2018, 06:30 PM Jun 2018

Let Trump Handle Brexit: Explosive Leak Reveals Johnson's Private Views About Foreign Policy


Let Trump Handle Brexit: An Explosive Leaked Recording Reveals Boris Johnson’s Private Views About Britain’s Foreign Policy

“I am increasingly admiring of Donald Trump. I have become more and more convinced that there is method in his madness.”

...

BuzzFeed News has obtained an audio recording of a closed-door gathering at the Institute of Directors in London, where Johnson treated about 20 Tories to an extraordinarily unguarded and wide-ranging assessment of the UK’s foreign policy strategy – and his private thoughts about Brexit, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

...

Speaking about Brexit, Johnson gave a remarkably candid rundown of the arguments that have bitterly divided May’s cabinet.

...

Johnson insisted he won’t compromise on the final terms of Britain’s future economic relationship, but said the Brexiteers were at risk of getting a deal far worse than they’d hoped for. The government is so terrified of short-term economic disruption that it’s at risk of throwing away the opportunities presented by Brexit. He ridiculed the concerns about disruption at the borders as “pure millennium bug stuff” and said it’s “beyond belief” that the Northern Ireland border has become an obstacle in the negotiations.

...

He said the debate about solutions to the Northern Irish border had been blown completely out of proportion. “It’s so small and there are so few firms that actually use that border regularly, it’s just beyond belief that we’re allowing the tail to wag the dog in this way. We’re allowing the whole of our agenda to be dictated by this folly.”

https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexspence/boris-johnson-trump-brexit-leaked-recording


More at the link, including audio excerpts.
5 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Let Trump Handle Brexit: Explosive Leak Reveals Johnson's Private Views About Foreign Policy (Original Post) Denzil_DC Jun 2018 OP
Boris johnson was born in NYC riverbendviewgal Jun 2018 #1
The secret to traversing an ice field on a moonless night... Girard442 Jun 2018 #2
I'll never apologize for reminding people who was behind the UK media's long-running anti-EU frenzy: Denzil_DC Jun 2018 #3
And now that 2naSalit Jun 2018 #4
The first rule of Brexshitters....... T_i_B Jun 2018 #5

Girard442

(6,070 posts)
2. The secret to traversing an ice field on a moonless night...
Thu Jun 7, 2018, 06:42 PM
Jun 2018

...is to drive hard forward. True, there might be some breakage and chaos, but you might actually get somewhere.

Or not.

Denzil_DC

(7,233 posts)
3. I'll never apologize for reminding people who was behind the UK media's long-running anti-EU frenzy:
Thu Jun 7, 2018, 06:56 PM
Jun 2018
The road to Brexit was paved with Boris Johnson’s Euromyths

...

For many in EU circles the former London mayor’s reputation for mendacity pre-dates the referendum campaign. Nobody has forgotten his activities as a journalist in Brussels, where he was correspondent for the Daily Telegraph between 1989 and 1994. The French tend to mythologise “Anglo-Saxon” journalism as the pinnacle of ethics and rigour, but Johnson was the incarnation of the gutter-press dictum: never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Indeed, this is what a grinning Johnson often remarked to his foreign counterparts when they protested about his exaggerated stories.

...

He had grasped the fact that some of his compatriots had a taste for conspiracy theories, and he could provide them – with a political scapegoat that was incapable of defending itself. The EU, unlike its member states, lacks an unquestionable political authority, so any reaction from the Brussels commission could immediately be dismissed as “interference” in the internal affairs of the nation state. Attempts to rebut the myths could be easily batted away as a case of no smoke without fire.

Even worse, Johnson created a school of EU reporting: the entire British press, to varying degrees, began peddling Euromyths, fuelling the kind of Europhobia that no UK politician dared to stand up to, and which ultimately has now led to Brexit.

Johnson as politician applied similar methods: so despite a previous ambiguity about the wisdom of Britain leaving the EU, he became head of the leave campaign, never hesitating to lie or insult Britain’s EU partners if it furthered the cause. And, just as when he was a journalist, he had no problem admitting his own lies the day after the referendum victory.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/15/brexit-boris-johnson-euromyths-telegraph-brussels

T_i_B

(14,737 posts)
5. The first rule of Brexshitters.......
Fri Jun 8, 2018, 01:53 AM
Jun 2018

......is that they never ever take responsibility for their own f**k ups. No matter how obvious it is that they are making a total pigs ear of everything.

The movement to leave the EU can be quite cultish at times, and the attempts by Leave supporters to blame anything and everything but themselves are only getting ever more desperate over time.

Latest Discussions»Region Forums»United Kingdom»Let Trump Handle Brexit: ...