The Brexit Chronicles

Goodbye To All That

Published on January the 29th, 2020. 18.00.

"What happens at 11pm this Friday, January 31 2020, marks the point of no return, once we've left we are never coming back and the rest, frankly, is detail. We're going; we will be gone." - Nigel Farage.

We are living through strange and eventful times. Apocalyptic wildfires ravage Australia; the Taal volcano in the Philippines is poised to erupt explosively; the Gulf simmers on the edge of war, and the world wonders if the Wuhan coronavirus can be contained, or if it will become a deadly pandemic. Against such a background our imminent Brexit has become little more than a local news item.

But the final hurdle has been cleared with the  European Parliament voting to ratify the Withdrawal Agreement by 621 to 49. I wondered if it wouldn't at the last moment kick-up a protest at the treatment of EU nationals resident in the UK after Brexit, but given the document has already been signed by the UK and EU heads of state, realistically there wasn't anything the euro MPs could do beyond registering a symbolic objection, and in the end they didn't even do that. Instead they did as they always do, voting as the Commission instructs them, demonstrating once more the Parliament is but a sham exercise in conferring an illusion of retrospective legitimacy to decisions already made by the executive. This 'democratic deficit' was at the heart of the Brexit argument; though in a couple of days the point will be moot as it will no longer be our problem.

Fortuitously this approval ensures Nigel Farage's and Anne Widdecombe's terms as MEPs come to an end, though not their continuing golden goodbyes from their tenures there. Our Nigel's final speech was abruptly cut short by the Irish chairwoman of the EU parliament for the heinous crime of he and the Brexit Party MEPs displaying sandcastle sized Union Flags within the hallowed chamber. Such pettiness is an example of the contemptuous attitude of the bloc toward national sovereignty, and a final reninder - were any to be needed - of what it is we are so fortuitously escaping late on Friday.

Apart from that sour note it seems the angst and rancour generated by the issue has dissipated for the time being with friendly platitudes being spread liberally around: It's not goodbye but au revoir (until we meet again) according to a sign erected at the entrance to the parliament by the European Socialist Group. Our departure passes uncannily quietly and without drama, as it should have been the case all along.

So, make ready to blow the hornpipe and hoist the Blue Peter! All aboard me hearties; for shortly our ship of state will be setting sail!