Quote:
Originally Posted by 1andrew1
David Frost talking about honesty boxes for goods destined not to leave Northern Ireland. Nice idea, but as even the keenest Leaver would concede, the UK government is acting with little honesty with regard to the NI Agreement. Frost's efforts to renegotiate from a position of weakness look doomed. Could this be another U-turn or does David Frost have an ace up his sleeve, and not the "specific and limited" aka joker card he tried to play before?
|
It really sounds like you’ve cut and pasted that from somewhere else
First: is HMG negotiating from a position of weakness? Please quantify. I’ve already outlined where I believe they see the strength of their position: that it’s a matter of territorial integrity that absolves them from accusations of dishonesty and risks to future potential trade deals around the world.
Second: the admission of “specific and limited” violation of international treaties was crafted to enrage remainers, in order to use that rage to convince the EU negotiators that the UK was willing to play hardball. Insiders have described it as “the berserker strategy”. It worked magnificently - Barnier was effectively sidelined from that point onwards because the EU side realised two things, namely that they were going to have to compromise, and that Barnier was too much of a zealot to do it. It’s slightly amusing that you’re still triggered by that line though, so long afterwards.