Board Of Trade - Ship Of Fools

Nothing better illustrates the capture of Government by those whose mindsets have been formed from service in the alphabet soup of Astroturf lobby groups in and around Tufton Street than the choice of that Government’s trade advisors. Nowhere can there have been such a gratuitous waste of taxpayer funds with so little rational expectation of any positive outcome, save the belief that someone on the left is being “triggered”.

We already knew that former Australian PM Tony Abbott, removed after just two years by his own party, and who last year lost his supposedly safe seat to an independent candidate, was one of those advisors. The same Tony Abbott who said “It’s climate change policy that’s doing harm. Climate change itself is probably doing good; or at least, more good than harm” and “Islamophobia hasn’t killed anyone”. Crikey!

But worse was to come: the announcement came, not from the Government, but as befits capture by lobby group land, it was tipped to one of their pals, the odious flannelled fool Master Harry Cole, now continuing his pretence to be a real journalist as political editor of the Murdoch Sun. He had the full list of advisors, and it contained a token former Labour MP. The bad news is that the name in the frame was that of Patricia Hewitt.

As Wikipedia tells us, “Hewitt was one of the MPs named in the 2010 sting operation into political lobbying by the Channel 4 Dispatches programme, in which she appeared to claim that she was paid £3,000 a day to help a client obtain a key seat on a Government advisory group. On 22 March 2010, Hewitt, along with Geoff Hoon and Stephen Byers were suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party over the allegations”.

It’s not looking too promising, is it? But the Pièce de Résistance was the appearance on the list of advisors of Dan, Dan The Oratory Man. Yes, Daniel Hannan has been appointed a trade advisor. While Jacob Rees Mogg, the member for times long past, sniffed haughtily “An excellent new Board of Trade, Abbott and Hannan are inspired appointments”, other commentators were not so enamoured of Hannan’s presence.

This is, after all, the same Daniel Hannan who told “What do we mean by leave? It’s very important to stress that there is a common market in Europe that embraces EU and non-EU countries. It runs from non-EU Iceland to non-EU Turkey. There are no tariffs. There are no trade barriers in that area. Nobody is talking about Britain leaving that”. Except that is what we got, and he, it seems, supported. But he has previous form for this.

Which was summed up by the Tweeter known as Steve Analyst, who began his exposition “We are here today to deliberate the case of one Daniel John Hannan MEP who stands charged with being the most cynical liar in British politics”. See thread HERE.

What the lobby group gang, their press pals and of course chief Downing Street polecat Dominic Cummings are doing brings to mind the words of former US President Lyndon Johnson. “Did y’ever think … that making a speech on economics is a lot like pissing down your leg? It seems hot to you, but it never does to anyone else”.

Right now, those who have captured the Government are pissing down their legs. It seems hot to them. But all that will result is ridicule. And a substantial dry cleaning bill.

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