Boris Johnson is whipping up emotions to prepare for an election. This isn’t just cynical; much of what he says is false and he must know it.
The Prime Minister is using is using two inflammatory words: “surrender” and “betrayal”. They have different meanings and he is using them in different ways. So let’s consider them separately.
Not a ‘Surrender Act’
Johnson has taken to calling the Benn Act which MPs passed earlier this month the “Surrender Act” or “Surrender Bill”. This is a deliberate tactic. He told the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee on Thursday that the term was getting “cut-through” with the public. He then told the Cabinet that Labour was “running scared” as the phrase was hurting Jeremy Corbyn badly with voters, according to Huffington Post.
The term “never surrender” was famously used by Winston Churchill in his “fight on the beaches” speech in June 1940 – just after the heroic evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk. Johnson, who likes to compare himself to our wartime leader, is cynically trying to tap into the national psyche to justify his dastardly tactics.
The Benn Act is designed to stop us crashing out of the EU without a deal on October 31. It forces the Prime Minister to ask the EU to delay Brexit by three months if he hasn’t managed to get MPs to approve a deal by October 19.
Johnson justified the use of the term “Surrender Act” by telling MPs on Wednesday that the law “would take away from this country the ability to decide how long that extension would be, and it would give that power to the EU.”
There are two things factually wrong with this statement. First, “surrender” means giving up a fight against an enemy. The EU is not an enemy. It is a club of democratic countries, with whom we share values and interests.
Second, the Benn Act does not give the EU the power to decide the length of an extension. It says that the Prime Minister must ask for a three-month extension (Clause 1.4). True, it also says that, if the EU proposes an extension of a different length, Johnson must agree to it within two days (Clause 3.2). But it adds that there’s no need to say yes to what the EU proposes if the House of Commons doesn’t agree (Clause 3.3).
The Benn Act is not a very long piece of legislation. The Prime Minister must surely have read it. Even if he did not understand it, many people have pointed out that he is misinterpreting it. By now he must know that what he is saying is false.
Who is betraying the people?
Johnson isn’t using the term “betrayal” as frequently as he is using the word “surrender”. he did tell MPs on Wednesday: “We will not betray the people who sent us here; we will not. That is what the Opposition to do.”
“Betrayal” is an even more emotive than “surrender”. By whipping up the people to believe they are being betrayed, it encourages death threats and violence – something MPs, lawyers and ordinary campaigners are now suffering.
Dominic Cummings was remarkably blase about this in a speech on Thursday night. Johnson’s top aide said: “If you are a bunch of politicians and you say that we swear we are going to respect the result of a democratic vote and after you lose you say ‘we don’t want to respect that vote’. What do you expect will happen?”
It is rich for Johnson to talk about betrayal. This is a man who led a referendum campaign riddled with lies. Wasn’t it try to hoodwink the voters by telling them we send £350 million a week to the EU when we don’t?
This is a man who could have run to be Prime Minister in 2016 after David Cameron resigned. But he bottled it and left the job to Theresa May. He ran away from responsibility. Wasn’t that a betrayal of those who voted “Leave”?
This is a man who, as Foreign Secretary, backed the “joint report” with the EU in December 2017. That was the forerunner of the now notorious Irish “backstop” – something he now describes as “undemocratic”. If it really was undemocratic, surely he betrayed the people by supporting it.
We need a People’s Vote
Brexit is a bit like buying a house. The property looks beautiful. So you put in an offer. But then the survey finds dry rot, the roof is falling in and a high-rise office is going to be built next door. You can complete the contract if you really wish to. But you don’t have to.
In 2016 Johnson promised a fantasy Brexit. The reality of Brexit bears no resemblance to what was promised. Before pressing ahead, it would be undemocratic not to check with the people whether that’s what they really want.