Boris Johnson

05.10.2017 Brexit

Brexit: hopelessly trying to buy time while the Article 50 clock is ticking

When Theresa May delivered her Florence Speech a fortnight ago, my first reaction was “Is that it?” The speech had to outline something on citizens rights, the financial settlement to leave the EU, and on the Northern Ireland border, yet

21.09.2017 Brexit

A little Theresa May Florence Speech reading list

So Theresa May is going to make her highly awaited speech in Florence tomorrow. There has been plenty of analysis and speculation about what she is and is not going to include. Here – in a blog post I will

18.09.2017 Brexit

May’s Florence Speech: an impossible balancing act

Theresa May is due to give a big Brexit speech this coming Friday 22nd September in Florence. With Boris Johnson having jumped the gun and penned his own Brexit vision a couple of days ago (fisked by me here), and

16.09.2017 Brexit

Fisking Boris Johnson’s Brexit essay

Boris Johnson has penned a 4000 word piece about Brexit for The Telegraph (Update: now posted to Facebook as well). It’s a premium piece on their site for some reason and you have to hence register to read it –

10.03.2017 Brexit

What if crashing out of the EU without a deal actually becomes the UK’s plan?

This week in the FT (€), Philip Stevens recalled the EU negotiation advice of Douglas Hurd, the UK’s Foreign Secretary under John Major. There is more to be gained from conciliation than from shouting argued Hurd, a sentiment I echo

02.12.2016 Brexit

The Brexit debate – flailing around in a pool of shit

Imagine you have just been thrown into a tank at a sewage treatment plant. It reeks like hell, you have nothing solid to grip, and you’re flailing around madly trying to grasp something firm to hold onto, but you never

24.08.2016 Brexit

12 ways to make it look like Brexit has happened

A sequel to this post is now available! “12 MORE ways to make it look like Brexit has happened“ It’s now two months since the UK’s EU referendum, but all has gone rather quiet on the Brexit front. The British

14.07.2016 Brexit

The rest of the EU doesn’t understand Britain playing games with its and the continent’s future

Brexit, and the economic and political consequences of it, is serious. So why then has the UK appointed its least serious front line politician, Boris Johnson, as its Foreign Minister? (backed up by the little better Davis, Fox and Leadsom)

13.07.2016 Brexit

Cover your ears, world – this Boris Johnson as Foreign Minister thing might just prevent Brexit

It has just been announced that Prime Minister May has appointed Boris Johnson as Foreign Minister. Reactions are not positive – see Mike Smithson, Gareth Harding, David Rennie, Antonia Mochan, Jeremy Cliffe. And I agree it’s going to look awful

29.06.2016 Brexit

The unbearable lightness of Michael Gove

I don’t care what side of the EU referendum debate you were on. This isn’t about that. This is about how much the referendum matters to you or not. And – importantly – how it seems to not matter to

07.04.2016 Brexit

If Britain votes to Remain, how should the EU contain it?

I have made the case for why progressives and federalists outside the UK ought to advocate Brexit (for the sake of the political integration of the rest of the EU), and I have also tried to examine in a bit

24.03.2016 Brexit

Britain remaining in the EU increases Boris Johnson’s chances of being the next PM

Over a beer with some academic friends yesterday, conversation turned to Brexit. Boris Johnson will only become Tory party leader if Britain exits the EU was the consensus among my friends. It’ll be Osborne otherwise. I expressed my doubts yesterday,