When is a Deal not a Deal? by Mike Clitherow

Below is a simple analysis of the current proposals/options in Parliament.

BTW The word “DEAL” is being used a ll the time in the Media and Parliament

BUT the Brussels straight jacket being offered is not a deal it is a revised Treaty that is totally unacceptable.

To me it has parallels with the Versailles treaty forced on the Germans in 1919. (an exaggeration of course but it makes my point)

A DEAL is when a Free Trade arrangements is agreed - what the EU’s field agent Mrs May tried to sell us was a locked in treaty.  A total insult to our country and its people.

No New Treaty (so called deal) v Withdrawal Agreement with ‘backstop’

v Withdrawal Agreement without ‘backstop’ v Article 50 extension etc.

A) Non acceptance of the EU proposed treaty agreed by May (No Withdrawal Agreement)

- 2016 referendum result respected and implemented

- UK democracy restored

- UK independence restored

- UK fishing rights restored

- UK sets own trade policy

- UK sets its own long term defense policy

- UK sets own immigration policy

- UK negotiates and implements free trade agreements all over the world & eventually the EU

- UK laws set by UK Parliament

- UK cases dealt with by UK courts

- UK Freedom

- UK reinvigorates good relations with the Commonwealth, European countries and the wider world

- Certainty 

- No more endless Brexit debates

- Certainty in business.

- UK ability for ingenuity and “make it happen” spirt to overcome the short term problems.  

B) Current Withdrawal Agreement with ‘backstop’

- 2016 referendum result to leave and take back control not respected or not implemented

- EU law continues to apply

- CJEU jurisdiction continues to apply

- UK has no say in EU laws passed

- UK a ‘colony of the EU’

- Undemocratic

- ‘Divorce payment’ of [£39 billion]

- Payments to the EU continue

- Possible loss of control of international defense policy whilst locked in.

- Years of protracted negotiations with the EU

- Years of uncertainty

- UK unable to exit without EU consent (they remain holding all the cards)

- EU controls continue through application of EU law in UK and continuing CJEU jurisdiction

- Triple lock of transition period, Backstop and ‘future partnership’ to prevent UK from leaving EU control

- Possible regulatory annexation of Northern Ireland

- UK locked into EU model of high regulation and slow growth

- UK locked into EU direction of travel with no say

- UK unable to enter free trade agreements with the rest of the world

- UK unable to regain own fishing rights

- UK unable to control own borders

-  Indefinite ‘EU colony status’

-  Endless Brexit debates continue

Current Withdrawal Agreement without ‘backstop’

As above in B) above just without all the Irish issue BUT all the other BAD BAD downsides remain.

Article 50 extension

-  2016 referendum result to take back control delayed, not respected, or not implemented

- Undemocratic

- Further uncertainty

- Weakening of UK’s negotiating position

- Further loss of trust in the political class

- Endless Brexit debates continue

It’s the EU we want to leave not Europe as keeps being said by the likes of Blair and various people in the media,

A general election is needed with Boris working on a strategy with Nigel if we are going to get this done..

Mike Clitherow

Letter to the Chairman of the Conservative Party

14th September 2019

Dear Mr Cleverly,

We, the undersigned, have serious concerns regarding the selection of the Party’s parliamentary candidates.

The Prime Minister is rightly in election mode and CCHQ should follow suit by selecting candidates as soon as possible. However, it is important that the Party learns the mistakes of the past, and selects the right candidates.

Under the Cameron and May regimes, CCHQ pushed for and approved many candidates who were entirely devoid of conservative credentials and beliefs. The result has been the infiltration of the Conservative Party by people who would be far better suited to representing Labour or the Liberal Democrats. The behaviour of twenty plus former Conservative parliamentarians - many of whom entered politics under the Cameron or May tenure - demonstrates this. The removal of the Whip was the right thing to do and we urge you to ensure that it is never reinstated.

We also urge you to change the way the Conservative Party selects its candidates, so that the Party is once again represented by conservatives. CCHQ must abandon its unhealthy obsession with identity politics, and ensure that merit is the only acceptable criterion. Continuation of the patronising and ill-thought out quota system will prevent the best and brightest from representing our Party. 

It is no secret that relations between CCHQ and associations are at an all-time low. CCHQ can fix this by returning the power they took away from associations to decide who their Conservative candidate is and making sure the process is more transparent and democratic, instead of imposing CCHQ’s favoured candidates on them. Sam Gyimah, Rory Stewart, Sarah Wollaston, and Heidi Allen are examples of people who have been promoted and pushed by CCHQ, despite their lack of conservative beliefs; look at where that has left us.

The Conservative Party has been at its most successful when we have trusted the members to choose the candidates who represent us. It is worth noting that CCHQ took control of candidates in 1998. Prior to this, local associations had control. In the five General Elections since 1998 the Conservatives won one with an overall majority. In the five General Elections prior to 1998 the Conservatives won four.

Unless we learn the mistakes of the past, our members will leave, and the Party’s fortunes will decline again.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Bob Perry, Deputy Chairman, Hornchurch & Upminster Conservatives

John Strafford, Chairman of the Campaign for Conservative Democracy and former Chairman, Beaconsfield Constituency

Dinah Glover, Chair of London East Conservatives

Paul Diamond, Chairman of Comberton Branch, Member Executive Committee

Steve Marsden, Member, Bolton West

Keith Wells, President, Hornchurch & Upminster Conservatives

Alan Chapman, Shipley, former Conservative Metro Councillor, Constituency Officer, local election agent

Commander Derek Beesley, Former President of Aberconwy Conservatives

John Thorne, Taunton Deane, Executive Council Member, Somerset County Councillor

Ken Worthy, Chairman, Claygate, Hinchley Wood and Weston Green Branch, Esher and Walton

Grant MacMaster, Hornchurch and Upminster Conservative Association, Association Data Analyst

John Carpenter, Sleaford and North Hykeham

Roger Duckworth, Isle of Wight

Linda Beal, Monmouth Conservatives

Brian Seage, South East Cornwall Conservative Association

Richard Mackenzie, Kingston upon Hull North

John Jarrett, Southport Conservatives.

Alan Jones, North Thanet Conservatives

Steve Bodger, Tunbridge Wells Conservatives

Peter Roffey, Rutland and Melton Conservative Association

Ron Barker, West Worcestershire Conservative Association

Roger Baggott, North Cotswold Conservative Association

David J. Tyler, Stalybridge & Hyde

John Roche, Harrogate Conservatives

David J Dodd, Grantham and Stamford

Robert Johnson, Warwick and Leamington Conservative Association

Mrs Sheila Perry, Central Devon Conservative Association

Michael Perry, Central Devon Conservative Association

John Roche, Harrogate conservatives

J. J. D. Knapp, South Suffolk Association 

Margot Shimmin, Torbay Conservatives

Cynthia Beesley, Aberconwy

Peter Hole, Halifax Constituency Association

Robin Morris, Taunton Conservatives

John G. Fifield