David Davis was not wrong when he said “it makes no sense to either Germany or Britain to put in place unnecessary barriers to trade in goods and services” to German business leaders in January 2018 during his sell out tour of Berlin. The fact that the EU chose to punish the UK for leaving the European Union is not Mr Davis’s fault. Nothing is his fault. He is in this happy position because he is a Brexiter. It is well understood that being a Brexiter is the gold standard way of avoiding blame for any of the consequences of Brexit.
Who then to blame? There is clearly a long list of people who fit the bill. High on the list are the people who said do not do Brexit. They achieved a delay to Brexit’s implementation and nothing else, which surely caused immeasurable harm to Brexit. Time diluted the purity of a project that was supposed to be a smash and grab. We would have held all the cards had we followed famous Lexiter, Mr Corbyn, when he advised on the 24/06/16 to immediately trigger Article 50. No one can accuse him of not assisting Brexit. He even went on a camping holiday during the referendum campaign. So we will absolve him of blame.
Joe Biden must take his share. He never liked Brexit and each time anything related to it came before the House of Commons he voted against it.
Historians that used to make documentaries for the BBC are clearly also to blame for undermining it, so too anyone who agrees with their fevered, historical lessons obsessed rants on social media.
But the one group who are the most to blame are the Germans. This is self evident. They have never forgiven the mighty United Kingdom for our famous, stand alone victories in Two World Wars and One World Cup. Undermining Brexit was their revenge and they are being surprisingly effective at doing it.
Pride of place in the parade of shame is clearly the German automotive sector. They were expected to ride to the rescue the moment Brexit hit the skids. Just because they sacrificed billions to aide in the imposition of sanctions on Putin’s Russia following the annexation of Crimea was no pointer to how they would behave during the Brexit negotiations.
Audi. BMW. Ferrari. Ford. Volkswagen. Hang your heads in shame. When Brexit needed you you were in the slow lane and even today you will not show your faces out of shame. If you weren’t prepared to make a success of Brexit you should never have forced it upon a too trusting Britannia.