At the Conservative Party Conference in 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May spoke with passion about providing ‘a moral lead in the world, an example for others’. In her Downing Street address on Friday, she assured us that she was working ‘with every fibre of her being’ to secure the best Brexit deal for the good of the country, ‘for our children and our grandchildren’.
You might hope so from a daughter of the vicarage.
But in yesterday’s Spectator, Steerpike enlightened us as to the detail of The Deal, and summarised the top 40 horrors lurking in all those 500-plus pages, none of which bore the slightest resemblance to Mrs May’s pious claims.
What hit me between the eyes was Steerpike’s No 11 – ‘The UK agrees not to prosecute EU employees who are, or might be deemed to be, criminals.’ (Art 101) Criminals? Actual proven criminals? We are all too well aware about the shenanigans MPs get up to. To lie and deceive, to bully and dissemble – that’s one thing. But criminality – fraud, violence, theft, rape, money laundering, murder, disappearances? And no prosecution, Liberty Hall? Wow – that’s real moral leadership for you.
It was Lord Justice Denning who said ‘Be ye never so high, the law is above.’ Even the POTUS is answerable to the Supreme Court.
Anyone who would even contemplate signing the nation up to such an outrage is not just morally bankrupt, but a very dangerous individual indeed.
