Back Theresa May’s Brexit deal or Jeremy Corbyn’s in No10 — and I’d rather stay in the EU than see that
Now it’s time to get serious, at long last, because if we don’t push this deal through, we may not get Brexit at all, writes Sun Columnist Rod Liddle
GREAT news. Guess who has taken over the presidency of the European Commission for the next six months.
Yep — Romania. The EU will be guided through its many problems by a basket-case country with a pygmy economy, most of whose citizens are desperate to get the hell out and reach the UK.
Every time you might doubt we did the right thing in voting to leave, the EU comes up with another brilliant reason not to stay in.
Romania, with its beleaguered government and wealth per person lower than Trinidad & Tobago and Kazakhstan. That’s who will be running the show.
Right now, though, we have to get our act together. In the middle of this month there will be a debate in Parliament about Theresa May’s “new” deal for us to leave the EU.
Government ministers have been whispering that May has won some concessions from the EU negotiating team. I hope so. But I kind of have my doubts.
As Lord Sugar might put it, she couldn’t sell prosecco to a hen party. But it’s time to get behind her. Time, too, for arch-Brexiteers to cease being so self-indulgent and vote through a deal that is the least-worst option.
Sure, I’m no fan of Theresa’s Pedigree Chum plan — a dog’s dinner if ever there was one. Truth be told, I’d rather we crashed out with no deal at all.
But that would be more dangerous — for the British economy and even for Brexit.
And waiting in the wings if the Prime Minister fails to get her plan through is Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party.
Frankly, I would rather stay in the EU than have Jezza as Prime Minister. As Tom Harris, a Labour Brexiteer, put it, May’s deal gives us Leavers slightly more than half of what we voted for. And given the result of the referendum two years ago, that seems about right to me. None of us get exactly what we want.
But we do leave the EU and we retain control of our borders. And soon we’ll be free to strike our own, independent, trade deals. Reach out to the rest of the world. That seems to me a decent compromise.
Our negotiations with the EU should have been done with confidence and self-discipline
Rod Liddle
The problem lies in convincing the arch-Brexiteer Conservative MPs that now is the time to give up the fight. I understand their many reservations. But the reality is the deal May puts before the House of Commons is about the only solution that stands a chance of winning a majority.
And we are in this position largely because the Tory Brexiteers never managed to sort themselves out. At every stage, they were divided among themselves and too often concerned about their political careers.
So if this isn’t the deal we all wanted, they have themselves to blame.
Our negotiations with the EU should have been done with confidence and self-discipline.
Instead, we were always on the back foot because of Conservative in-fighting.
Now it’s time to get serious, at long last. Because if we don’t push this deal through, we may not get Brexit at all.
Ferning a living
MY wish for the New Year is that someone might tell me what Kendall Jenner, Rita Ora and Ferne McCann actually do for a living. Other than this kinda thing.
That’s wish No1. Wish No2 is that Gary Lineker takes a self-awareness course and discovers he’s a bumptious t***er who knows next to nowt.
I'm too Auld to stay up
WERE you up for midnight on New Year’s Eve? I was, as usual, but it was very quiet round my way.
I went out just before 12 and saw a woman try to s**g a car. But that was about all there was in the way of high spirits. Also, the car – a Renault – didn’t seem very interested.
Most of my social-media friends went to bed at 10pm to avoid seeing London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s ludicrous fireworks display.
And all the downstairs lights were off in the houses in my street.
Are people getting bored with New Year’s Eve, do you reckon?
Singing for our supper
Our Foreign Secretary has just landed in Singapore to drum up more trade for Britain post Brexit.
This tiny country – just a city state – is a major economic force and an important ally.
It’s also a good lesson for those whining lefties who blame colonialism for the desperate plight of Africa.
Singapore was founded as a British trading post exactly 200 years ago. It was under British control until 1963.
It has a booming economy, one of the world’s highest life expectancies and a top standard of living.
So it’s not done too badly, has it?
The truth is colonialism is NOTHING to do with the failure of African countries. It’s about good government.
Albert 'Pride' Square
There's going to be a gay bar in EastEnders.
This is an innovation dreamed up by the new script editor, Kate Oates.
It’s intended to make the programme more closely represent the area in which it’s set.
Ha! Here’s a tip, Ms Oates. If you want EastEnders to truly reflect the borough in which it’s set – Tower Hamlets – you need a few more sweeping changes.
Fewer than a third of Tower Hamlets’ residents are white British, so that’s most of the cast gone.
Almost 40 per cent of the people there are Bangladeshi, so the programme should be broadcast in Bengali, not English.
Come on, Kate. You want EastEnders to be more real?
Then make it REALLY real.
Parking chaos
Let's be honest. It’s not just whichever oaf parked Paul Pogba’s car in that disabled bay who is doing it.
When I go to my local supermarket, all the disabled bays are full, every time.
No stickers in the car windows.
And the people inside the store don’t seem to be limping very much. Sometimes I fantasise about waiting by their cars, with a hammer, for them to emerge with their shopping.
“Disabled, huh? Well, you are now.”
But one of the problems, I think, is that we have too many disabled bays.
And so people don’t take them seriously.
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'Bon voyage, mon ami'
With every day that passes, more Iranians arrive at Dover floating in upturned tins of Quality Street.
Quite clearly, the French are doing nothing whatsoever to deter them.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they were actually herding them on to the dinghies.
“Go on, monsieur, you can see the cliffs over there. It’s not far. Bon voyage, mon ami.”
It’s another two fingers from the hopeless French because we’re leaving the European Union.
What we should be doing is towing the migrants all the way back to Calais.
I know living in France is probably a “cruel and unusual punishment” under United Nations laws. But it’s time the French took their responsibilities a bit more seriously.
Another year dawns with something else to be terrified about.
Evil Chinese mussels have invaded British waters, apparently. They smother our decent, God-fearing British scallops and oysters.
By the time you read this, they will probably have made their way up the Thames.
It’s time we took a stand against these vile, bivalved b******s.
Leave our oysters alone, you Commies! Get back to where you belong. Etc.