Boris Bets Bust Brexit Breakthrough

[Update at end of post]

Had the story been pitched as a movie script before June 2016, it would not have got over the first hurdle. No actors would have been assigned to the production, no composer would have written a bar of music for it, and no finance would have been sought. The idea that a British Prime Minister would do the bidding of his hedge fund pals, rather than looking after the interest of his country, would have been dismissed as fantasy.

A complete Muppet. And Elmo from Sesame Street

But that was then, and this is now: we now have alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, driven by his chief polecat Dominic Cummings, and what has been reported today, especially when put alongside yesterday’s revelations from Byline Times, should make anyone and everyone sit up and take notice. Bozo The Clown gives every appearance of selling the UK down the river to please his rich backers.

How could he do this? Simples. As the BT article tells, “currently £4,563,350,000 (£4.6 billion) of aggregate short positions on a ‘no deal’ Brexit have been taken out by hedge funds that directly or indirectly bankrolled Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign”. Moreover, “Another £3,711,000,000 (£3.7 billion) of these short positions have been taken out by firms that donated to the Vote Leave campaign, but did not donate directly to the Johnson leadership campaign”. So what does that add up to?

“£8,274,350,000 (£8.3 billion) of aggregate short positions has been taken out by hedge funds connected to the Prime Minister and his Vote Leave campaign, run by his advisor Dominic Cummings, on a ‘no deal’ Brexit”. But, you might counter, Bozo and Dom are working hard to close a deal with the EU, aren’t they?

The nuances of hedge fund management are explained

Not according to James Mates of ITV News, who has told “President of European Parliament David Sassoli: 1) No new proposals have been received from the UK. … 2) There will be no agreement without a backstop … 3) We will be open to an extension to Article 50 if there’s going to be an election in UK”. No new proposals have been received.

Our Government claims it is making progress, but this from the latest BBC report suggests we are not getting the full story: “So far this week, the UK side says it has presented ideas on customs and manufactured goods, while there has been further discussion on the non-binding political declaration which sits alongside the withdrawal agreement and outlines the future relationship between the two sides. But while the government says progress is being made, the EU insists no formal proposals have been tabled”.

Also, an EU source has told the Beeb “at some point the UK needs to give us a proposal. We can't negotiate without one”. This is consistent with telling the electorate that heaven and earth is being moved to get an agreement, while in reality doing nothing more than running down the clock. We know Bozo can’t be trusted. Now we also know that his hedge fund pals have well north of £8 billion riding on a No Deal Brexit.

When the Byline Times piece was published, the premise of the article, and the numbers pitched, looked bad. Now that we know that the UK has not put any new proposal to the EU side - meaning they are unable to negotiate a deal - it looks much, much worse.

Would Bozo The Clown sell out his country to please his rich pals? Too right he would.

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[UPDATE 1805 hours: in response to the FT's Alphaville post on its article, Byline Times has given more information on how it collated its figures, and reached its conclusions (see HERE). But the original article stands, more or less unaltered]