So, Kemal-Johnson is off to Brussels in a last ditch attempt to stave off “no deal” Brexit – which is odd, because he told us it was nothing to fear and would allow us to “prosper mightily.”  Another on the endless list of his lies.

So now he is rushing around like a headless chicken trying to please everybody and succeeding only in pleasing nobody. That tends to be  the way with craven cowards, The question is what does he fear most: the vicious grasping right wing of his Party, or long term damage in every way imaginable to the nation?  We may be about to find out.

One thing on which we can be certain is that his decision will be based on what he sees as his own self-interest: damned be those whose lives are ruined; damned be those whose businesses destroyed.  Your prospect wrecked ? That is of no matter to our prime minster.  He is heedless of anything other than himself.

So it comes down to a simple question, which aspect of the Kemal-Johnsonian “character” will win out: headless chaos or heedless ego: headless or heedless ?

This weekend, we are told, though hardly for the first time, should decide it. Barnier and “Frosty” have agreed that they go no further; their differences are too great to do other than agree to disagree.

Now two knights steps into the ring to battle to the end: Kemal-Johson v. Von der Leyen.  Roll up, roll up this should be the match of the century.

The truth is somewhat different: this is a match the like of which – with any luck – we will not see again. Von der Leyen has little to do with it, she simply has to keep her nerve: it’s all about Kemal-Johnson fighting himself.  As  he hurls himself around the ring, the question is: is K-J more frightened of the seconds in his own corner, or of the audience. Or, to put it another way, is he ready to destroy the UK, integrity, economy and all to try and save himself, or will he finally show some vestige of honour for the country which has – so foolishly – made him its leader and agree a deal.  Make no mistake about it, any concession, be it ever so small, that he makes will have the Brexit hound-dogs baying for his blood; and the alternative, no deal, is a disaster.

It goes against every fibre of his being to stand and fight: K-J is the craven coward of craven cowards.   But the prospect of a country smashed to smithereens and brought to its knees is not the legacy for which most politicians would crave – other, perhaps, than Dave-boy-Cameron whose idle insouciance set the whole disaster in motion.

Many readers will, like me, have been relieved to see infection rates in the UK falling in recent days. So the news that the government is to waive quarantine requirements for “high value” –  it is hard to think of a term better calculated to cause offence – travellers will not be universally taken as good news.  As far as I am aware, the virus is no  respecter of status, social or business.

The inevitable result will be that infection rates, and deaths, will once again start to rise. It was, after all, travellers from abroad, who brought the virus here in the first place.

In honour of the prime minister the resulting pattern – veering up and down the page like a drunkard on a beach –  might aptly  be called the J-curve.

Perhaps I have misjudged Kemal-Johnson. Maybe he is as good as his word: “fuck business,” he said and “fuck business,” it appears he is determined to do.

3rd December and we still do not know if there will be a Brexit deal (or is K-J will drop his disgraceful proposal to break international law in the Internal Markets Bill, and perhaps other, legislation).

You think you’ve seen chaos in Downing Street this week?  That is as nothing in comparison to what is coming.

In the shelf-life of every politician there are flash moments that can be very revealing. Enoch Powell’s remark, for example,  that “all political careers end in failure,” was a flawless summary of his own achievements.

“Imagine Trump doing Brexit,” said Kemal-Johnson,  “he’d go in bloody hard … There’d be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think he’d gone mad.”  Well, he is right about the scale of the mess.  But he’s not right as to its attribution: it’s not madness that has caused the impending  disaster; it’s the insouciant arrogance of a fat, lazy, debauched,  slob: the embodiment of “piffle.” The mere fact that the much touted lorry park in Kent has been constructed in a flood plain says much about the foresight and planning that K-J and his team of incompetents have put into Brexit.   God forbid I remind you (5 weeks and counting still left on the calendar)  that we still do not know if there will be a deal or not.  As for administrative details; tariffs, customs declarations, insurance and the like, “La Vache,” as the French would say.

We are heading for disaster. Not just a simple, once in a life-time catastrophe, but a multiplex of chaos. It’s hard to know what to dread most, Brexit or the virus. The one will reduce incomes, and opportunities, the other means you never need worry again, which as Kemal-Johnson would tell us  is “a very, very good thought.”

I have longed for the departure of Mr Cummings from Downing Street as much as anybody (ambiguity intended), but now it has come about there are a few points to be made:

• Cummings may be gone, but he leaves behind him a toxic mess of false promises and wreck hopes; oh, and a destroyed country
• the manner of Cumming’s going may indeed become him, but it is not seemly for a prime minster to throw his adviser out of the door during a blazing row. This is not the mark of a careful, considerate man, but the behaviour of a spoilt, impetuous child
• if it is indeed true, that Cummings departure was brought about by Johnson’s common law wife, that is also bad. Not, perhaps as bad as leaving the man in place, but decisions concerning senior personnel should be taken by the (elected) prime minister, not his unelected wife
• the country is on the cusp of two important moments: the end of the Brexit negotiations and the lifting of the second lock-down.  Kemal-Johnson is not a fit person to deal with either, and any adviser he appoints will be almost entirely lacking in experience of the complexities of either
• Cummings came as a package along with Piggling Gove, and it would be fitting for them to leave as a package: Get Gove out of Government
• Kemal-Johnson is loyal to nobody except himself, ever

Doubtless there is more to be said, but that’ll do for starters.

It would be nice to think that at a time that Britain faces unparalleled challenges the prime minster draws on the best advice and advisors possible.  All the more disappointing, then to read this morning of the departure of Lee Cain, who cut his teeth working on the tabloid paper, The Mirror, and who was notably deployed dressed as a chicken to harry David Cameron.

With such talent on the run, whither the government ?

Apologies, my mistake.  I should have typed:  Wither, this government !

Dear Readers, do you imagine that people enter politics with the idea of doing good ?  Politicians of the left ? Perhaps. Politicians of the right ?  Well, in one sense you might be correct: politicians of the right enter politics with one paramount aim – evidence shows it beyond any shadow of doubt – to do good; to themselves and their mates.

And you can’t do good for anybody if there’s no funds to dip into.  The situation is getting desperate: if the economy is damaged much more taxes will have to rise, umpteen businesses will go bust, and opportunities for self-enrichment out of the public purse will start to die away.  Something must be done.

First step: no more lock down after the current spell comes to an end on 2 December.

That’s a problem, because, as Lord Sumption has pointed out, by that stage nothing will have changed: no vaccine, however promising, will be available; the weather will remain bleak; and university students will be desperate to get home.  The current plan is to test them, and for those who test negative, release them slowly back into the community; and the result of that will be, as sure as eggs is eggs,  a spike in the virus.

We may not be heading for a very happy Christmas.

The husband of a friend of mine was a Special Forces soldier.   He feared nothing; well, almost nothing. One thing frightened him stupid: the day when he was asked to go out into the jungle and dispose of a rogue elephant he was shaking like a jelly.  I don’t blame him, I wouldn’t fancy it either.

Sir John Major is an old man, mild mannered, considerate, and some might think, weak. But last night he went out alone, into the jungle and faced his rogue elephant: Kemal-Johnson’s government.   You can see what happened here: Major at Middle Temple. and for those who wish to do their homework, the text can be found here: Text

There is one iron rule for those who set out after a rogue: shoot to kill. If you do not kill them, they will certainly come for you.  And it is no surprise that moments after Sir John’s speech politicians of the right were venting their spleen.  It may be that he will have to leave the party to which he dedicated his career.  I doubt whether that would cost him dear because, as he made abundantly clear, the government of Kemal-Johnson does not represent the Conservative party of old, but a right-wing clique determined to clear all obstacles from its path.

Much of what Sir John said bears repeating – his comments on the “Internal Markets” bill – defeated last night by a thumping majority in the House of Lords, were coruscating.  But let me set out here a few of his words (punctuation is my own) that were as penetrating as any:

• Brexit was sold to the nation as a win-win situation. It is not.
• We were promised we would stay in the Single Market. We have not.
• We were told trade with the EU would be frictionless. It will not be.
• We were promised we would save billions in payments to the European Union: a bus was driven around the country telling us so. Not so: Brexit is costing billions – not saving them.
• We were told that our “liberated country” could cut back on bureaucracy and regulations. We now know they will increase – and dramatically.
• We were promised we would strike lucrative trade deals with America, India, China and others in quick time. Japan apart – we have not.

Perhaps his most chilling, words were these: “And, to add tragedy to farce, it was the people who were misled who will now lose out.”  That is a reference to those who voted for Brexit out of despair: the old, and the poor.  They will pay the price.

Across the Pond, America has, with courage and determination, set about starting to free itself from its corrupt, cruel, bullying rogue.  There is no mechanism in the UK to rein-in a government that is out of control – at least I have identified none – so we have four more years to wait.  The damage that can be done in that time is unimaginable and much of it will be irreversible.

It gives me no pleasure to say I warned you.

This blog is about UK politics, but it would be churlish not to given a whole-hearted welcome to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris across the Pond, congratulate them on their tremendous success and wish them  well. That’s more than the British government has managed.

Kemal-Johnson and his merry wo/men are now in serious shtuck, but not half as much as the rest of us.  I doubt if the extent of the mess they have created has really sunk in yet.  With all the bombast of their type they pinned their colours to Trump.  That was folly in the extreme, probably went against the counsel of the Foreign Office, and almost certainly against the advice of more than one former ambassador to the US.

Without US support – arguably with it, but certainly without – Project Brexit is a disaster. It is 7 1/2  weeks until Britain leaves the EU and we still do not know if that will be on WTO terms or with some sort of last minute “deal” cobbled together. It is an unmitigated disaster for anybody owning a business, anybody working for a business, or anybody who buys anything from a business  based either in Europe or the UK.  They have no idea of the regulations they will face, the papers they will need, the duties they will pay, the customers they will have… They cannot plan anything.

Under the “guidance” of Kemal-Johnson, the UK will have turned its back on its largest market-place, trashed its international reputation for honesty and fair play,  wrecked its security,  its health service, and its system of education and opportunity for young people. In return for what ?  The scorn of the incoming US administration, a trade treaty with Japan that is largely repetitious of the one we already had courtesy of the EU and could reduce tariffs on around 9,500 products we don’t sell, and the prospect of future treaties with the likes of Kenya and Ghana.