The Conversation (0)
Greg Evans
Jul 24, 2020
The ardent Tory Brexiteer Mark Francois reignited his feud with Michel Barnier on Thursday when impersonated the EU official during a radio interview.
The two politicians who couldn't have more opposing views on Brexit if they tried, have had something of a very public but friendly feud after Francois sent Barnier a letter which appeared to be the ERGs attempt to influence the trade negotiations as well as becoming the European Court of Justice's continued presence in the UK.
Barnier's reply to the MP, in a letter dripping with sarcasm, laid out exactly why the ECJ still has power in the UK (because of the Northern Ireland protocol, which Francois would have voted for).
Despite time running out, Francois remains confident that a deal can be agreed with the EU but we doubt that Barnier will be impressed to hear Francois attempt to impersonate his French accent.
Speaking to Marc Dolan on talkRADIO he said:
The thing they’ve [the EU] have always been worried about is that one day we might become what you might call the ‘Singapore of Europe’ and with a different economic model over time, we would out-compete them. That’s one of the reasons they were so desperate to keep us in the European Union in the first place.Â
The only way they can fetter that is by coming to some sort of agreement with us. So, I think in the autumn they may well start to make concessions because if they don’t and we don’t agree a further deal then it’s Australia and WTO [terms] and there’s nothing they can do to stop it.
We probably won’t know until October, at least, whether they’re going to give it again. I still think they might and if not it’s Australia {trade terms] and now the ball is in their court. As Michel Barnier says, ‘Ze clock is ticking.
We're not experts in trade deals but it you want to reach a deal with another group of people its probably best that you don't appear on national radio and use a dated stereotype to mock their most prominent member.