People make mistakes. Intelligent people learn from their mistakes. Stupid people make the same mistakes again and again.
The bad: The UK voters went for another Boris Johnson Brexit fantasy. Real, detailed negotiations have to start now and will most likely take years. This is not the end but the beginning of another Brexit phase. The good: This is a clear decision. Boris Johnson and the Tories have won a clear mandate.
With 649 out of the 650 House of Commons seats decleared, the Tories win 364 (+47) seats, far more than the 326 seat for an absolute majority. Another good news: Labour suffers its worst defeat since 1935 with 203 (-59) seats. The ultra-left Jeremy Corbyn a man nostalgic of the Soviet Union, Castro and Chavez, announced that he will not lead Labour into the next election. In other words, he is to step down.
The Scottish nationalist pary SNP won 48 (+13) seats. A new vote on Scottish independence seems likely and Boris could end up as the leader of little England.
Jo Swinson, the young Lib Dem leader, lost her seat in parliament to an SNP candidate and announced that she will step down as party leader. The Lib Dems ended up with 11 (-1) seats in the House of Commons despite offering the best deal available aka Remain.
The protestant, Northern Irish DUP, the former coalition government partner of the Tories, won 8 (-2) seats. Independent and other party candidates account for another 15 (+2) seats.
This is bad for the UK and bad for the EU. Both are weakened by this pro-Brexit decision. Boris Johnson’s deal offers a harder Brexit than Theresa May’s deal. Nevertheless, it is far from the Brexiters original Brexit promise.
Will Boris and the Brexiters be tempted to go for a “really” hard Brexit aka a no-deal Brexit? If they “just” push through Boris Johnson’s deal, it is the fine print that will make all the difference. The EU is in a dilemma. The harder the Brexit conditions, the worse it will be for the EU economy (and not just the UK economy). If the conditions are too soft, other EU nations may one day be tempted to exit the EU although, after the Brexit mess so far, even nationalists in countries such as France and Italy have moved away from such an idea.
Beauty items at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
Boris Johnson (official photo as Foreign Secretary). Photo credit: www.gov.uk
Article added on December 13, 2019 at 09:39 German time.
