JOHNSON'S STRATEGY MUST BE ALLOWED TO PLAY OUT.

Exactly why Prime Minister Johnson is trying to introduce legislation which his government admits might well lead to a contravention of international law is something I have no knowledge of. However, I have no doubt that it's some sort of ploy for use in the ongoing discussions with the European Union and is designed to give the United Kingdom an additional bargaining chip.

Inevitably, representatives of the EU have thrown up their hands in horror, accompanied by assorted voices from the list of usual suspects, meaning those who have always opposed all things BREXIT. Indeed, I suspect that the likelihood of the British government ever using whatever powers it is trying to bring into being is remote and that the huge political fuss that's been blown up is mostly a storm in a tea cup, not that anyone would believe this from the media's coverage of the matter.

Particularly shocking is that assorted former Prime Ministers appear to have given up on supporting their own country and have, instead, emerged from the woodwork to criticize their current successor. Of course, none of them like Boris Johnson who is a very different character to any of them - Major, Blair, Brown and May are all long standing members of the political establishment and not one of them will be remembered in 100 years time any more than are the likes of Campbell-Bannerman and Bonar Law today. Their legacies make sorry reading - Major entwined the UK in the Maastricht Treaty and all but destroyed the Conservative Party; Blair had a God complex and led the country into interminable wars in the Middle East while also creating, together with Brown, a nation in which all and sundry are dependent on state largesse; Brown was also part-responsible for the appalling financial crash of 2008 and as for May, she was a control-freak who was incompetent, a devastating combination. 

All 4 of these political 'giants' (in their own minds if no where else) are Europhiles and now all 4 want to argue for Europe against the UK. Interestingly, I have yet to hear that David Cameron has made any loud public pronouncements on the latest squabble, which might suggest that he is more aware of the underlying strategy, or perhaps I've just missed whatever he's said. 

Whatever is going on, it's clear that the EU is making things as difficult as possible in the discussions over a future trade deal with the United Kingdom and surely the role of all of our representatives, current and former, should be to support our government, not try to undermine it. That some egos are simply too big to follow this simple principle is disappointing, to say the least.