The British author of the European Union’s exit clause has predicted no-one country will be “as stupid as us” in voting to leave the bloc, and that in 10 or 20 years the British will crawl back to Brussels with “our tail between our legs”. JACK MONTGOMERY
Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, born John Olav Kerr, is a career Diplomatic Service apparatchik who has been elevated to the House of Lords and enjoyed a number of lucrative directorships since his retirement, helped to author Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty — the legal mechanism for exiting the European Union which never expected anyone to use.
The “last great benefit” of Britain’s exit from the EU, he toldThe Times, is that the “nasty and rebarbative” negotiations which will take place during the 2020 transition period “will ensure that no one will be as stupid as us again”.
“As it becomes clear that the negotiations will not end happily, people will tend to blame the foreigners,” he predicted, showcasing his rather uncharitable view of the British people.
“We will hear, ‘They’re being intransigent, they’re messing up our Brexit’, when all they are doing is defending the interests of the 27 [remaining EU member-states].”
Ultimately, however, Kerr believes the United Kingdom will return to the EU fold — albeit as a thoroughly chastened and grovelling supplicant.
“My children will certainly see us back in again,” he predicted confidently.
“It will take quite a long time — 10 to 20 years — before we say, with our tail between our legs, ‘Can we come back now?’”
It is not the first time Kerr, a former Permanent Representative to the European Union — in effect an ambassador — has expressed a decidedly low opinion of the British general public’s intelligence.
“In my view, immigration is the thing that keeps this country running,” he pronounced in November 2016,” the privately-educated globalist pronounced in late 2016.
“We native Brits are so bloody stupid that we need an injection of intelligent people, young people from outside who come in and wake us up from time to time.”
Kerr’s derisive outburst prompted right-leaning commentator Quentin Letts to declare him “the authentic, drawling voice of the European elite”.
“For decades he had been a leading proponent of the European superstate,” Letts pointed out.
TORY turncoats including former attorney-general Dominic Grieve and party grandee Michael Heseltine betrayed Brexit voters by pleading with Leo Varadkar to push for a longer extension to allow for a second referendum, it has been revealed.
The group penned a letter to the Taoiseach on the eve of the general election being called urging him to take note of the “growing momentum for a final say by the Births public on Brexit”. The Conservative Group for Europe stressed in their letter the the only way out of the crisis was a so-called People’s Vote, the Irish Independent reports. They said the only solution to the deadlock would be “a confirmatory vote by the public with an option for Britain to remain in the EU on the ballot paper.”
They added: “With this in mind, we are writing to you to request that European leaders please consider allowing a longer, flexible extension of the Article 50 process.”
They cited the central London People’s Vote march held on October 19 which they claimed attracted between one and two million people.
Organisers of the rally put the number at around one million.
Police described the march as “very busy”.
Dominic Grieve and Lord Heseltine urged Leo Varadkar to push for a longer Brexit extension (Image: GETTYY)
Mr Grieve has been a leading campaigner for a second referendum (Image: GETTY)
The group said: “There is growing momentum for a final say by the British public on Brexit.”
And in light of this they claimed the Brexit deadline of January 31, which Boris Johnson has vowed to honour, should be pushed back even further.
The extra three months, they argued, would not be sufficient time to hold a second EU referendum.
Lord Heseltine speaks at a rally for a second Brexit vote (Image: GETTY)
The group suggested an extension of six to eight months be granted to allow for a second Brexit vote.
They wrote: “We, therefor, urgently request the EU and governments throughout Europe to allow UK citizens, who still remain EU citizens, the right to confirm their views on our future relationship with the EU.”
Mr Varadkar’s office declined to say if he had responded to the letter or not.
Mr Varadkar was urged by the group to push for a longer Brexit extension (Image: GETTY)
Mr Grieve attacked Mr Johnson, saying Sir John Major's common sense put him to shame (Image: GETTY)
Mr Grieve was one of the 21 Tory rebels expelled from the party by the prime minister in September for voting to rule out a no-deal exit from the bloc.
The lifelong Conservative is running as an independent candidate in the Beaconsfield constituency he formerly held as a Tory.
The Conservative Group for Europe are calling for a second public vote on Brexit (Image: EXPRESS)
This week former Tory Prime Minister Sir John Major refused to back the Conservatives in the election.
Instead he called on voters to support independents including Mr Grieve and former Tory justice secretary David Gauke.
Mr Grieve was among the 21 Tory rebels kicked out of the party for voting to rule out a no-deal Brexit (Image: GETTY)
Mr Grieve tweeted: “I am pleased and privileged to have the support of Sir John Major, who says he would vote for me if he were in Beaconsfield.
“He was an outstanding PM and Conservative whose moderation and common sense put Mr Johnson to shame.”
Another Brexit Day has come and gone. Boris Johnson said we would leave the EU today, ‘do or die’, and yet here we are, still in the EU. And according to Remainers it is all so hilarious. They’re ripping the piss out of the UK’s failure – its third one so far – to leave the EU on a set date. Let’s be clear about what these people are really laughing at, what they are really taking pleasure in. They are revelling in the third stark betrayal of a democratic vote; in the silencing of millions of people; in the disenfranchisement, essentially, of voters they disagree with. Their joy at the uneventful passing of another Brexit Day is really joy that the largest collection of voters in British history is still being defied and demeaned by the powers-that-be.
There is something very strange in the Remoaner chortling at the UK’s ongoing failure to enact the democratic will. Many people of a pro-EU persuasion are using today as an opportunity to have another go at the PM. They’re saying: ‘Boris said we’d be out today. He said he would rather die in a ditch than still be in the EU after 31 October. And yet we haven’t left. What a liar.’ This is mad. The reason today has become No Brexit Yet Again Day is not because Boris lied, but because the Remain establishment continually prevented him from enacting even his super-soft Brexit, or Brexit In Name Only, as many of us prefer to call it. MPs passed laws and campaigners used all manner of dirty legal tricks to ensure that Boris’s deal did not get through parliament and to force him to go back to Brussels and beg for another extension to the Article 50 process (and to our membership of the EU).
So the very same people who tied Boris’s hands, or cheered the tying of Boris’s hands, and who have devoted themselves to ensuring we never leave the EU, are now saying: ‘We haven’t left the EU. How many more Tory lies will people put up with?’ It takes industrial levels of brass neck for the plotters and blockers who spend their every tragic waking hour thwarting Brexit to turn around and say to Boris: ‘You said we’d be out “do or die”!’ It is testament to their profound disconnection from ordinary people that they think we will nod along with their Boris-bashing on Boris’s failed Brexit Day, when of course a great many voters are thinking: ‘Yes, we know we’re not out of the EU. You anti-democrats made damn sure of that.’
Unsurprisingly, the most vocal of the anti-democrats who are opposed to enacting the people’s will – Labour MP David Lammy – is using Non-Brexit Day to gloat about the failure of Brexit more broadly. He says, in reference to earlier dates when the establishment failed to uphold their promise to leave the EU, ‘They told us we would leave on 29 March. We didn’t. They told us we would leave on 12 April. We didn’t. Then they told us we would leave on 31 October. We won’t. Now they say we will leave on 31 January. But our message is clear: Brexit must not happen without a #PeoplesVote.’
Strip away all the pseudo anti-establishment blather in statements like this, and you will see that what Lammy and others are really laughing about is the blocking of a democratic vote, the failure and unwillingness of the political elite to obey the instruction that was clearly, fairly and democratically delivered to it by the people.
So have your fun. Go wild with your hashtags. Make your lame jokes about the lack of riots or protests today. But be aware of this: millions and millions of people look at you and see not clever, funny activists bemoaning Boris’s failure to deliver Brexit on 31 October, but an increasingly distant and harsh elite that is taking pleasure in the destruction of 17.4million votes. If you’re celebrating the non-appearance of Brexit on Brexit Day, then you’re celebrating the silencing of millions of voices who just wanted change and progress in British politics; you’re celebrating the most flagrant denial of democracy in the history of the franchise in this country.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has agreed a revised Brexit deal with the EU and MPs have voted to allow the government's bill on it to go forward to the next stage in the parliamentary process.
By Peter BarnesSenior elections and political analyst, BBC News
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has agreed a revised Brexit deal with the EU and MPs have voted to allow the government's bill on it to go forward to the next stage in the parliamentary process.
But they have rejected the rapid timetable which would only have allowed three days of debate in the House of Commons.
Mr Johnson wanted the law passed quickly so Brexit on the terms of his new deal could happen on 31 October. It will now be almost impossible to meet that deadline.
The prime minister had said that he might withdraw the bill and seek to hold an early general election instead. But immediately after the vote on the timetable for the bill he said it would be paused and that he would speak to EU leaders.
On Monday the Speaker of the House of Commons ruled that there couldn't be another meaningful vote on the deal because MPs had already considered that question on Saturday.
So instead MPs have moved to consideration of the bill. If it passes all stages in Parliament it would put the Brexit deal into UK law.
The prime minister sent a letter to the EU formally requesting a Brexit delay until 31 January 2020, as he was legally required to do, even though he doesn't want an extension.
Now that the bill almost certainly won't be passed in time he will either have to accept an extension - assuming the EU agrees - or push for a no-deal Brexit.
There could be a short extension to allow more time for the bill. Or the government could still decide to cancel it all together - and seek an early election instead.
Extension request
The EU is currently considering the UK's extension request. All 27 EU nations must agree to an extension. If they agree to an extension until 31 January 2020 that will become the new date for Brexit.
If the EU proposes a date other than this, even a short "technical extension" of a few days, the prime minister must approve it unless a motion is put before MPs and they decide not to pass it.
If the EU refuses to grant the UK a delay then Brexit will happen on 31 October at 23:00 GMT.
Leaving without a deal (or withdrawal agreement) means the UK would immediately exit the customs union and single market - arrangements designed to make trade easier.
An early election is widely expected after 31 October when Brexit is currently scheduled to happen. It's unclear, though, whether that would be later this year or early next year.
If Brexit is delayed, the House of Commons might be asked again by the government to back an early general election. That requires a 2/3 majority in the House of Commons and so far MPs have not been prepared to agree.
An alternative route for the government would be a short new law specifying the date of an early general election - this would require only a simple majority and not need two-thirds of MPs.
There is another much more dramatic way - the prime minister could call a vote of no confidence in his own government.
At any point the opposition could call a vote of no confidence in the government. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has previously said he would table such a motion.
If more MPs vote for the no-confidence motion than against it, there would then be a 14-day window to see if the current government - or an alternative one with a new prime minister - could win a vote of confidence.
If no-one does then a general election would follow.
There could also be another referendum although it would certainly require a Brexit delay and, most likely, a change of government first.
The referendum could have the same legal status as the one in 2016. It would be advisory, and the government would have to decide how to respond once the result was known.
An alternative would be to hold a so-called "confirmatory" referendum. That would be between a particular Brexit deal and remain - or possibly with no deal as an option. The result of this kind of referendum would be legally binding.
Either way, the new referendum would require legislation to be held. There would also have to be time for the Electoral Commission to consider the question wording - especially if it's a referendum with more than two options.
Experts at the Constitution Unit at University College London say it would take a minimum of 22 weeks.
Cancel Brexit
There is also the legal option of cancelling Brexit altogether by revoking Article 50.
But clearly, this is not something the current government is contemplating - so it's only really possible to imagine this outcome after a change of government.
The Liberal Democrats have said that if they won a majority in the House of Commons they would revoke Article 50 and cancel Brexit.
