In June 2016, no one knew about No Deal AKA the WTO Option. Almost no one was calling for it. I had published something in 2015 about what would happen in a No Deal situation. It was not until June 2016 that people picked up on it and the FT phoned me. No one understood. THREAD

In June 2016, a lot of people didn’t expect Cameron to resign.
In the immediate aftermath of the vote, judging by their ‘soft’ responses, Vote Leave leader Boris Johnson and Vote Leave architect Daniel Hannan didn’t expect & didn't understand/foresee the radicalisation of their own side.
No one expected all Vote Leave figures to basically scarper and leave the EEA behind during summer 2016.
No one expected Northern Ireland to grow into the enormous issue it became.
No one expected what came after Theresa May’s quite measured leadership launch speech.
No one expected ‘Brexit means Brexit’ to mean anything other than the UK would leave EU membership.
No one expected Boris to be knifed by Gove allowing Theresa May to win.
No one expected Nick Timothy to be a complete moron.
No one expected ‘Citizens of Nowhere’ and ‘Saboteurs’
No one expected certain former EFTA-EEA-Brexit supporters to reveal themselves as out-and-out racists.
No one expected David Davis to be put in charge of Brexit. Nor Boris Johnson to be made foreign secretary.
No one expected Trump to be elected (yes it is relevant)
No one expected Article 50 to be invoked with no plan whatsoever.
No one expected Corbyn to last as Labour leader as long as he did.
No one expected the General Election of 2017.
When the 2017 election was called, no one expected the appalling Tory campaign nor the result (a majority of over 100 looked more likely at the start). No one expected Corbyn to do so well and come within 10,000 votes of winning.
No one expected Chequers – the creation of a Turkey on Europe’s north-west frontier
No one expected the ministerial support for Chequers. Nor the subsequent resignations.
No one expected a second referendum until the shitshow that had played out over 2 years eventually prompted a campaign for one.
No one expected the ERG’s deeper and deeper madness.
No one expected UKIP policies to become government policies.
No one expected the govt's blind rejection of an extension to the transition period.
No one expected David Frost – a Remainer - to be made Chief Negotiator, nor to then turn into as big a Brexit idiot as everyone else in government.
No one expected the indicative votes. No one expected the extraordinary result of the indicative votes.
No one expected MPs who had been calling for a customs union….to vote against a customs union.
No one expected the descent of supposedly sensible Leave figures to lament the radicalisation of their own side but to then join in that radicalisation
No one expected a business-supporting Conservative minister would want to “fuck business”. And the same minister to then be made Conservative leader.
No one expected opposition MPs to permit a general election in 2019.
No one expected No Deal-fearing Michael Gove to reverse ferret on No Deal.
No one expected the red wall to crumble and no one expected the Conservatives to win Blyth Valley.
No one expected liberal, cuddly, single-market-liking Boris Johnson to continue doubling down on the road to Ever Purer Sovereignty
No one expected the biggest pandemic for 100 years.
No one expected Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain to be sacked from Downing Street
No one expected zero change after Cummings had gone.
No one expected the negotiation to go on this long
No one expected in 2016 to see Northern Ireland and Gibraltar put on much faster paths to reunification with their immediate neighbours.
No one expected the British state to deliver a catalogue of lies and wrong turns to the point that we ended up staring down the barrel of No Deal. And a thin deal that wasn’t much better
No one expected the phrase “this is what you voted for” to become an ironic jibe precisely because no one did expect this.
But everyone has been surprised by each grim twist and turn, and yet a few of the same people say I should have predicted all of it. I appreciate the confidence in my prophetic powers but if I was that good, I would’ve ignored this whole thing and enjoyed my £billions instead.
Merry Christmas to all followers and retweeters. I hope 2021 eventually brings us all some peace.
PS: OK I'll give way on the Nick Timothy point.

More from Brexit

On this, I think it’s highly unlikely to occur in the timeframe given. For several reasons, I don’t think it’s realistic for Scotland to secede, and then join the EU, in 9 years.

For that, thanks goes to Brexit.

A thread because why not...


Two important dates: March 2016 and January 1st 2021.

Firstly, prior to the 2014 referendum, the Nationalists proposed a date of March 2016 to secede.

Secondly, today - the end completion of Brexit five-and-a-half years after Cameron’s majority in 2015.

Brexit has demonstrated many things, primarily that splitting unions is not easy. The UKs membership of the EU was 47 years and by the end it was not at the heart of the EU. The Union has existed for over 300 as a unitary state.

Dividing a unitary state, like the UK, will not be easy. Frankly, it will make Brexit look simple. Questions of debt, currency, defence, and more will need to be resolved ... something not addressed with Brexit.

Starting with debt. Scotland will end up with its proportionate share of the UKs national debt. It’s not credible to suggest otherwise. Negotiating what is proportionate won’t be easy when both sides disagree.

It’s importance will be seen shortly.
1. #Belfast #IrishSeaBorder There is no doubt that Brexit & the accompanying Irish Sea Border has destabilised the Union. Whilst the constitutional status of Northern Ireland has not changed, the fact of N.I remaining in the single market of the EU confirms it is”a place apart”.

2. Belfast Steve Aitkin/UUP, Mervyn Gibson/OrangeOrder,Jim Allister/TUV, Jamie Bryson/Unionist Blogger, etc etc, all see the Irish Sea Border & different economic arrangements for NI apart from Britain as a “betrayal”. It comes in a long line of Tory”betrayals”.

3. #Belfast They are correct. The Irish Sea Border & EU single market moves N.Ireland closer to the Republic of Ireland in terms of economic
https://t.co/tdKZhjKhWu,it doesn’t change the constitutional status of NI but it is a huge psychological blow to a Unionism.

4. #Belfast The DUP utterly failed to “strengthen the Union”. Their attempt to hold the minority Tory Theresa May govt to ransom backfired spectacularly when Boris Johnson won a significant majority. Their arrogance led them to be isolated & resented in Westminster.

5. #Belfast How does Unionism now react to this?Retreat to the”Bunker”?Repeat the ineffective “Flag”street activism of the past? The Union can now only be saved imo by reaching out to the 5-10% swing vote that will decide a future Border Poll on Irish unification,& it is coming.

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