LONDON: Britain is heading toward a Brexit disaster that could amount to the biggest muddle in its history unless Finance Minister Philip Hammond succeeds in achieving a less abrupt exit from the EU, former Conservative Party leader William Hague said.
Since May’s failed gamble on a snap election last month, the future of Brexit has been thrown into question with squabbling between her ministers over the pace, tone and terms of Britain’s departure from the club it joined in 1973.
May has faced public pressure to temper her plans for a clean break from the EU.
Hague, also a former foreign minister, said there was a danger that some Brexit supporters were underestimating the risks of a sharp economic slowdown or even the possible stalling of Brexit talks with the EU.
“There is the clear potential for Brexit to become the occasion of the greatest economic, diplomatic and constitutional muddle in the modern history of the UK, with unknowable consequences for the country, the Government and the Brexit project itself,” Hague wrote in the Daily Telegraph.
Hague said an approach to Brexit was needed that made the negotiations simpler, reduced the need for rushed legislation, reassured businesses and included staying in the single market during a transition period.
Hague, who campaigned to remain a member of the EU, praised Chancellor of the Exchequer Hammond for seeking such an approach to the EU divorce.
“This is seen by longstanding advocates of leaving as a ‘soft’ position or a climbdown. But in reality it is a plan to rescue Brexit from an approaching disaster,” Hague said.
Hammond has said Britain should avoid disruption to businesses when it leaves the EU, and there should be a transition to allow economies to adjust.
That would mean no sharp change to immigration or trading rules after Brexit in March 2019, with the transition period possibly lasting until 2022, when the next election is due.
The UK Independence Party, which opposes EU membership, has called on Hammond to resign for what it said was a plan to derail Brexit.
“The anti-Brexit faction in the government, led by reprieved Chancellor Philip Hammond, are now actively promoting confusion and uncertainty, as part of their strategy to undermine Brexit negotiations and reverse the process,” UKIP said.
Hammond’s spokeswoman did not return calls for comment.
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UK heading toward Brexit ‘disaster,’ says leader
UK heading toward Brexit ‘disaster,’ says leader
Macron squares up to Trump in rebel shades at macho Davos gathering
- French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, wore sunglasses on stage
- A broken blood vessel has left him with a bloodshot eye since last week
PARIS: Top Gun or Terminator? French President Emmanuel Macron’s sporting of aviator shades at Davos this week tickled the press and inspired viral memes online, while prompting a surge in visitors to the eyewear brand’s website.
Macron, speaking at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, wore sunglasses on stage due to a broken blood vessel that has left him with a bloodshot eye since last week, according to the Elysee’s chief physician.
While the French president stood up for European sovereignty and blasted “unacceptable” threats by his US counterpart Donald Trump to impose tariffs on countries opposed to his plans to seize Greenland, it was Macron’s flashy blue sunglasses that grabbed much of the attention.
“Top Gun or Terminator?,” read a headline in Le Parisien daily, highlighting the viral commentary which ranged from memes photoshopping laser beams shooting from Macron’s eyes to his face on the “Miami Vice” film poster.
Other images on social media showed Macron playing the rebel Maverick from the Top Gun franchise, while facing off to Trump.
“These sunglasses were unintentionally a very fitting visual vocabulary for the message he wanted to convey,” said communications professor Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet at Paris’s Sciences Po university.
“It gave a Hollywood-style dimension — cool and masculine at once — that answered Trump.”
Trump mocked the look, stating: “I watched him yesterday with those beautiful sunglasses. What the hell happened?“
“But I watched him sort of be tough,” Trump added, after Macron said France rejected “bullies.”
The UK’s Telegraph newspaper published the headline “Can Macron’s sunglasses save the West?” in an analysis of the heated and divisive tone taken by largely male world leaders at the summit.
“Testosterone is the primary currency in Davos this year, and the French president’s aviators have placed him at the top of the pecking order,” the Telegraph wrote.
The hype surrounding Macron’s look led to a surge in traffic to the French eyewear maker Henry Jullien’s website, causing it to crash.
“Our eShop website is experiencing an exceptional volume of visits and enquiries” following the “significant visibility” given to the sunglasses by Macron, said a notice on the brand’s website.
It added that it had launched a “temporary page” featuring solely the ‘Pacific’ model worn by Macron, “to ensure stable and secure access for everyone.”
Macron, speaking at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, wore sunglasses on stage due to a broken blood vessel that has left him with a bloodshot eye since last week, according to the Elysee’s chief physician.
While the French president stood up for European sovereignty and blasted “unacceptable” threats by his US counterpart Donald Trump to impose tariffs on countries opposed to his plans to seize Greenland, it was Macron’s flashy blue sunglasses that grabbed much of the attention.
“Top Gun or Terminator?,” read a headline in Le Parisien daily, highlighting the viral commentary which ranged from memes photoshopping laser beams shooting from Macron’s eyes to his face on the “Miami Vice” film poster.
Other images on social media showed Macron playing the rebel Maverick from the Top Gun franchise, while facing off to Trump.
“These sunglasses were unintentionally a very fitting visual vocabulary for the message he wanted to convey,” said communications professor Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet at Paris’s Sciences Po university.
“It gave a Hollywood-style dimension — cool and masculine at once — that answered Trump.”
Trump mocked the look, stating: “I watched him yesterday with those beautiful sunglasses. What the hell happened?“
“But I watched him sort of be tough,” Trump added, after Macron said France rejected “bullies.”
The UK’s Telegraph newspaper published the headline “Can Macron’s sunglasses save the West?” in an analysis of the heated and divisive tone taken by largely male world leaders at the summit.
“Testosterone is the primary currency in Davos this year, and the French president’s aviators have placed him at the top of the pecking order,” the Telegraph wrote.
The hype surrounding Macron’s look led to a surge in traffic to the French eyewear maker Henry Jullien’s website, causing it to crash.
“Our eShop website is experiencing an exceptional volume of visits and enquiries” following the “significant visibility” given to the sunglasses by Macron, said a notice on the brand’s website.
It added that it had launched a “temporary page” featuring solely the ‘Pacific’ model worn by Macron, “to ensure stable and secure access for everyone.”
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