Time for a Brexit amnesty: send for Clegg and Mandelson to help
This is not one of those pieces in which the author laments the inability of prominent Remain voters (Remainiacs) to accept the result and move on. You will not catch me suggesting that some of my pro-EU friends are in a giant sulk which seems destined to last from now until at least 2045, which makes them the new Jacobites. Never let it be said.
Instead, this is a short, simple plea for a Brexit amnesty in the hope that reasonable people from both sides of the argument can come together in (that dread term) “the national interest” to help the UK government do a decent deal and secure trade agreements. There seem to be plenty of opportunities, although there are also major obstacles to overcome. It should be all hands on deck.
Which is why I think – seriously – that the government should be calling on expertise regardless of where it comes from in the rich tapestry which is British public life. Of course the cabinet ministers concerned and the Prime Minister retain control of the process, but let’s open it out properly to include people who know what they are talking about. No, of course the cabinet ministers know what they’re talking about too. But let a thousand flowers bloom…
Two non-controversial names to get the ball rolling…
Nick Clegg. I was one of those who was far too cruel to Clegg when he was in government. I am sorry. I am so, so sorry. Hold on, that sounds like Clegg apologising for breaking his pledge on tuition fees in the last Parliament. But out of office the former Lib Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister seems to have mellowed. His achievements can be viewed in proper context. As Tom Peck pointed out, Clegg has experience of trade negotiations from his time in the EU Commission. Get him on board to help.
Lord Mandelson. I have always had a soft spot for the Dark Lord, when he is in a good mood, as he was when with my wife I ran into him at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2009. (I’m not keen on the Chelsea Flower Show; have only been once, and don’t really like gardens other than to sit in or look at for 30 seconds and say oh look there’s a garden would anyone like a glass of rosé?) But that night we were having a nice time wandering about. And then… over there, look, there’s someone waving at you, said my wife. My goodness, it’s Peter Mandelson. We strolled over and had a delightful conversation about the state of the world. At the end my wife asked me how I could have written all those terrible things about him down the years. He seemed, she said, very nice and charming indeed. Which reminds me of the trouble the great Gill Hornby got into when she wrote in her then Telegraph column around the same time that her friend Mandelson was not the Prince of Darkness, but “an absolute poppet” or something. Across the Home Counties, the Telegraph readers want into meltdown and made their feelings known in emails, faxes, long letters and bonfire beacons lit from Sussex to Somerset.
But Mandelson is inconsistent. One of the occasions on which I encountered “Bad Peter” was when he came to the Telegraph for lunch in 2009 during the G Whatever summit at Excel. He was in a foul mood at the way Gordon Brown was not being hailed sufficiently by all of us as a genius for saving the world. I demurred, along with Phil Johnston, who just started laughing openly at the idea of Mandelson, former sworn enemy of Brown, demanding slavish adherence to Gordon. Mandelson relaxed at this and over lunch gradually became amusing “Good Peter” again.
Anyway, Mandelson knows about trade, government and international deals. Get him on an advisory board or two.
We are all Brexiteers now…