So Farewell Then Lord Frost

Although those in touch with reality knew that he was outclassed, and indeed turned over all too easily, by Michel Barnier, that his reputation with Tories was as a soufflé inflated well beyond the point of structural viability, “Lord” David Frost had been most useful in keeping the clown car of alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson on the road.

But nothing is forever, and especially when it is becoming abundantly clear that the miracle that was Frost’s Brexit deal is nothing of the sort. Fishing and farming communities have been sold out, the Northern Ireland Protocol has thrown the DUP under the Reunification bus, and the UK’s weakness outside the EU has been cruelly exposed.

So, although it has surprised many - more for its timing than anything else - Frost’s decision to cut and run had been coming, the pressure on him building, his ability (and that of others in and around the Tory party) to blame others for his failings ebbing away as the crises came and went. He’s resigned. And the effect has been delicious.

While the BBC has reported “Brexit minister Lord Frost has resigned from the UK government over ‘concerns about the current direction of travel’ … In a letter to Boris Johnson, the peer, who led Brexit negotiations, said he hoped the PM would ‘not be tempted’ by ‘coercive measures’ to tackle Covid”, the plausible explanation is that he had failed, would continue to fail, and would ultimately be seen, and remembered, as a failure.

What Frost had also done, and what became crystal clear in the hours after his resignation became public, was to paper over the gaping chasm that had opened up between Bozo and the Tory right, the headbangers, unicorn-seekers and flat earthers who want to not only believe that Brexit really will lead to bright, sunlit uplands, but also don’t believe that the Covid-19 pandemic is such a thing. So they have kicked off in no style at all.

Meanwhile in the real world, Jonathan Lis reminded us “Frost’s resignation comes after he demanded ECJ removal as a red line a couple of months ago, then completely backed down this week. Like every other Brexit minister, he promised to deliver all the EU’s benefits with none of its obligations, and in the end collided with reality”.

Anton Spisak put it more directly. “Lord Frost's resignation exemplifies a pattern among all the loud sovereignty purists: upon realising that there are difficult trade-offs inherent in their own choices, they pack their bags and leave, blaming others for the self-inflicted mess”. Steve Richards added “Brexit minister, Lord Frost, resigns… the Brexit Secretary, David Davis, resigned..the day after the referendum UKIP leader, N Farage, resigned…they all run a mile rather then face the practical consequence of their delusional fantasies”.

And Chris Grey had the all-important question: “Who replaces Frost now will be the key question. The answer will tell us whether Johnson wants a reset to pragmatic, even amicable, relations with EU. And/or whether he is too weak now to defy the Ultras with such a reset”. What happened overnight gives us an idea of how that will play out.

After (yes, it’s her again) Nadine Dorries attempted to defend Bozo in the Tory “Clean Global Brexit” WhatsApp group, Steve Baker, a walking advert against organised religion, removed her from the group, adding “Enough is enough”, and showing the Tories really have morphed into a Brexiteer death cult. Bozo is screwed. And so are we all.

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