“Boris Johnson, I voted for you but I don’t agree with what you are doing now”

“Boris Johnson, I voted for you but I don’t agree with what you are doing now”. I cannot say that, and never will. I did not vote for Boris Johnson or for anything he proposed.

 But can you, should you?

Or – can you justify staying silent?
There are reasonable people who voted Tory, to "Get Brexit Done". I know some of them. 

In this blog, I want to challenge rational Leavers who intend, as so many of their number, to stay silent.

As ever, comments that are reasonable, respectful, reliable and relevant are welcomed. 

“I’m glad we have got Brexit done now”.

We have “got Brexit done” in the same way that leaving school and starting to attend university equates to getting a degree, or that getting planning permission equates to getting a house built. (It doesn’t). Brexit always meant more than a Withdrawal Agreement - all the Leavers told us that. Conventional programme management tells us that we have not finished until we have a sustainable operation. “Get Brexit Done” was either a lie or ridiculously naïve.

“I’ve had enough of the delays, I think they should just get on with it”.

This conveniently ignores the fact that the publicly funded European Research Group (whose members the current Attorney General refused to name) was the primary obstructer of Brexit in the original timescale. Brexit didn’t happen in 2019 because the people who supported Leave could not agree on what sort of Brexit they wanted,

The Right to Remain Silent?

“I don’t want to talk about politics”.

“I think Brexit was probably right but I don’t want to discuss it”.

Well, yes, you can keep quiet if you want to. Who then will occupy the space that you are leaving empty? You see, maybe some people believe that there may be an honest case for Brexit. But we are not hearing it. The voices we hear making the case for Brexit – and in some cases, for how it will be carried out – include:

1. Career politicians who have decided on a course of deceit, which is now the way of working for the Tory Party (e.g. 88% of Tory Facebook adverts that were checked were found to be misleading)
2. Rich individuals who have in some cases acknowledged that they have bets placed on the British economy suffering – this is not illegal if they are not influencing politics, but they do not have our interests at heart
3. Far-right activists such as those who sought to intimidate my wife and me when we were in London on 31st Jan, and racist irrational ranters such as the well-publicised lady whose 90-second rant was promoted by the BBC after “Question Time” on 20th Feb
4. People unable to declare any benefits to Leave when interviewed, many of whom seemed to catch the attention of the BBC on 31st Jan.

It is curious that those who were most vehement about defending democracy are quite prepared to deceive people to obtain their vote.
Which causes more damage to democracy:

• swindling some people to get their vote in 2019 (e.g. telling Nissan workers that their supply chains would not be disrupted)
  or
• asking all people in a referendum in 2020 (as proposed by Labour and others) whether they still favoured Leave (as per the 2016 vote) now that they know what is on offer?
  This tells us that the indignation from the Tories was not because they sought to defend democracy. As ever with deception, one can only guess at the motives.

These four groups listed above are occupying the space and speaking for Leave.

At the end of January, there was a battle for topping the charts. On the Remain side we had “Ode to Joy”. What represented Leave? Dominic Frisby and “17 million fuck offs”. Dominic Frisby is an intelligent man. But what appealed to his Leave supporters was this aggressive and hostile stream of triumphalist obscenity towards what we know to be the majority of the UK population.  Dominic Frisby is an intelligent man, as I say. He knows what his market would buy.

The Wish to Remain Silent?

The following scenario played out several times:
CHRISTIAN FRIEND OF MINE. I think God wants Brexit
ME: Please have a look at my blog which explains 9 reasons why my Christian faith leads me to support Remain

FRIEND: Right, yes I will and I will get back to you with what I think.

…. (time passes)…
ME: Are you ready for that discussion?

… (Silence)…
 [In one case a scheduled coffee-date was cancelled by the friend at the last minute and noit rescheduled].

Now, of course no-one is obliged to have a discussion with me. But Christians are supposed to be clear about the application of their Faith.

Is it significant than no-one was prepared to defend their stance?
I wrote a similar (but perhaps more inclusive, i.e. not specifically Christian)  blog asking how anyone of good character could vote Tory. Really asking – because I was puzzled,

Well, ok, not everyone wants to discuss politics.
But if you remain silent, you leave the stage clear for the politicians, speculators, far-right intimidators and inarticulate followers mentioned above. Do you want them to speak for you? Because they are doing so.

The song “Sounds of Silence perhaps applies. “Silence like a cancer grows”.

Remaining Silent while Boris Johnson fiddles?

Boris Johnson called for unity, but it became clear rapidly that we should take account of actions rather than words. Actions including:

• Back-tracking on his promise to Nissan workers of sufficient convergence.
• Sacking (ok, Constructive Dismissal) of his Chancellor
• Sabre-rattling with the EU, and talking about an "Australia Style Deal" which is spin for "No Deal" - Australia doesn't have a Trade Deal with the EU
•  Kicking the journalists he doesn’t like out of a Downing Street briefing, rather than listening to their questions

If you voted for Boris Johnson and have remained silent since then, you are supporting him. Your vote is providing part of his mandate – whatever the result in your constituency, your vote has contributed to the 29% of the electorate that voted Tory. You will be assumed to be totally supportive of all of Boris Johnson’s actions unless you say otherwise.

Difficult Times Ahead

We are obviously facing some very difficult times ahead.

The chances of a 2021 UK recession are very high because, among other reasons: - the level of deceit makes business preparation more difficult - the Government continues to confuse decision day with implementation day; if things change on 1 Jan 2021 then business needs to know HOW they will change well before that (e.g. 2 years), not the week before - systems needed to support changes; my letter to Guardian 21st Dec illustrated this for N Ireland protocol ( & see “Bridge over Doubled Borders” on YouTube)..Overall, this Government has very little business experience, and is led by an ex-journalist with a history of failed projects as London Mayor.  Of course we also have to take account of business ingenuity and adaptability; but the three factors above will severely limit what this can achieve.
Where there is Government deceit and cover up, as we have to extraordinary extents now, it’s reasonable to allow that outcomes (for which predictions are suppressed) may be much worse than anticipated.. If the Government was confident then they would publish impact assessments. The fact that they are secretive tells us that the news is not good. Brexit Benefits have turned into “taking a hit” and the pain and cost that will be needed to deliver the Brexit that supposedly we wanted. ( The country never wanted a No-Deal Brexit that the speculators who are Tory backers want) . For how long will you support Boris Johnson’s deceitful push towards No Deal, or will the time come when you say “Enough deceit is enough”.


You may have lent him your vote. I didn't lend him my support, so I can't take it back. But you can, if you voted Tory.
When will you be prepared to say :

“Boris Johnson, I voted for you but I don’t agree with what you are doing now”