Brexit: a strange idea derailed by these strange times
There are," said a former top Treasury official last week, some strange people in this cabinet with strange ideas." The speaker was Lord Macpherson, the former Treasury permanent secretary, who during his time at the department now run by Chancellor Sunak had the unrivalled experience of serving Ken Clarke, Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling and George Osborne. Both Macpherson and Osborne were on a webinar" - yes, a word that is new to me too - hosted by the Strand Group of King's College London to discuss a report co-authored by a former shadow chancellor, Ed Balls.
Balls is still actively involved in the economic debate, and it was in his capacity as a visiting fellow at Harvard that he was presenting a report on the prospects for a US/UK trade deal. Well, to put it mildly, the Harvard team found precious little for the UK to gain from such a deal. Even if something can, as it were, be trumped up, it would hardly be worth the cellphone from which it would no doubt be tweeted.
Starmer has been saying that Brexit cannot be reversed. I comfort myself with the hope that he is being cautious and playing politics
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