Brexit Archives - The Mind of Rowan

A Tory Said What: March 2021

March was a big month in politics. The clocks went forward and the MPs left Parliament for their Easter break but they are still busy. There is still the pandemic and restrictions started to be eased but it was not without controversy, questionable comments and even more corruption. That is why I am back with a new post of A Tory Said What.

So, what is the point of these posts and why am I publishing them? Well, do you ever feel like the Conservative Government [PM Boris Johnson pictured above; feature image from Manchester Evening News] are deliberately lying to you? Do you ever feel like they are deliberately trying to gaslight you? Questioning your sanity? Or, have they said something that sounds so bizarre that has you thinking what the f***, they surely could not have said it, read more

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A Tory Said What: February 2021

January turned into February and although we are now several days into March 2021, I am back with the February 2021 edition of A Tory Said What. So, what is the point of these posts?

Do you ever feel like the Government are not being honest with you? Do you think they are lying? Or attempting to gaslight you? Or, have they said something that sounds so bizarre that you may think they did not actually say it at all? Well, that’s what I try to bring attention to with these posts. read more

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Premier League transfers after Brexit

The UK left the EU at the end of 2020 and with the end of freedom of movement came a new regime for football transfers with players coming from an EU country now requiring a Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) to be able to play in the UK. The January transfer window was generally quiet with not much money being spent (impact of Covid has perhaps some responsibility for that) but the only comments I can find regarding the new system from a prominent manager came from Sam Allardyce. The West Brom head coach made comments early in the window that the new system was making it harder for him. On January 4th, he told reporters…

Sam Allardyce. [Image from the Premier League].

‘I have found three players already who were capable of coming here and they’re not allowed. It’s a shame. Due to the new regulations in terms of the permit they were unable to come to this country, whereas (previously) they would have done. I have to look at that and think ‘can he qualify?’ read more

A Tory Said What: January 2021

A new year is underway and while I initially aimed for this month to be the first one back for the ‘A Tory Said What’ series of posts, it is the second since I decided to start doing these posts again.

These posts were originally halted as it was immensely difficult to keep up with the number of lies, misinformation that was spread, especially after the rise of Boris Johnson to Prime Minister [Pictured in the feature image above from Manchester Evening News]. However, I then remember this quote from Joe Biden’s inspirational inauguration speech on January 20th and it reminds me why the amount of lies, misinformation and gaslighting from the Government infuriates me so much, especially while we are stick with ‘Britain Trump’ for the foreseeable… read more

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A Tory Said What: December 2020

Yes, A Tory Said What is making a return. For those of you new to this blog, I attempted to from late 2018 to try, where I could, to fact check comments made by Tory MP’s that were false or alarming. These posts stopped not long after Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, as I just could not keep pace with the amount of false and/or potentially misleading claims they were making.

I was going to restart the posts in 2021 but once I had made that decision the urge of wanting to point out their lies and my head just exploding whenever I heard these comments on the news made me start early. These posts are basically, me trying to get this stuff off my chest. read more

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Breaking International Law for the sake of Brexit: Where on earth are we headed?

Personally, I think there are more important things to be discussing politically on here at present such as what appears to be out woeful efforts at combating and preventing the further spread of COVID-19. However, Brexit has reared its ugly head back into the public conversation recently and it prompts me to worry even more for the future of the UK. Why? Because a no-deal Brexit [Pictured above are Boris Johnson and Jean Claude Juncker last year; image from Business Insider] which last year which at the moment we appear to be heading for and which I would have labelled disastrous last year but to be coming to that scenario in the middle of a pandemic…I’m lost for words….

Why is it increasingly likely? The government brought forward the Internal Market Bill which aims to ensure that post-Brexit, the UK nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have the same standards and rules throughout. At first glance, that’s nothing contentious. It seems perfectly reasonable. However, the bill also says ‘Certain provisions to have effect notwithstanding inconsistency or incompatibility with international or other domestic law’ but also replaces parts of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement as elements of it “cease to be recognised and available in domestic law”. read more

General Election 2019: Boris Johnson must not win!

The first December election since 1923 is upon us and while my intents on this blog when discussing politics has to been to remain fair and impartial mostly; I have been keen in the past year to reflect the truth. Hence, the series of posts I’ve done entitled A Tory Said What. Those posts have been difficult to get on top of with the number of mistruths and spins spun by the Tory government. However, since Boris Johnson became leader in the summer the scale of mistruth and keeping up with it all has been virtually impossible.

So, with the country going to the polls, I make this impassioned plea…Please for the love of God, do not return Boris Johnson and his ‘new’ Conservative Party to Downing Street with a majority! read more

2019 General Election: Jeremy Corbyn’s Neutral Brexit Stance

As a Labour member and supporter, one thing I have been increasingly frustrated with the narrative of the party’s stance on Brexit has been portrayed. It’s confusing, it’s too complicated, they’ll argue against their own Brexit deal or they are not a Remain enough party. These are all criticisms that have been levelled at the leadership.

It is understandable. Whether you have for example Emily Thornberry on Question Time saying she’d campaign to remain in any future referendum leaving Fiona Bruce and co aghast, or Joh McDonnell on Peston refusing to say which way he’d campaign, it doesn’t add to a coherent picture. That’s why I was personally delighted to hear Jeremy Corbyn clarify it on the BBC Question Time Special debate a couple of weeks ago [Pictured above, image from ITV] when he said… read more

Lancaster House: unfulfilled promises and the national interest

This post has been long considered by myself. It has had many draft ideas. For example, it was nearly entitled ‘In defence of the enemies of the people’ after the backlash to the result of Gina Millar’s High Court case. However, the wording would be quite problematic as would accusing the government of being the real enemies of the people. I have decided to be above the language used by these media outlets and question who is at most damaging the national interest.

The post was aimed for publication last Wednesday to mark the year anniversary of the Lancaster House Speech though a recent family bereavement (I don't feel this is the right place to go into such detail) and dealing with it delayed its publication.

Since the 2016 Referendum regarding the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union and the ascension of Theresa May as Prime Minister vowing to deliver the ‘will of the people’, some of the language used in the press has been alarming. It has been the language of segregation, division and hate.

Judges have been labelled ‘enemies of the people’ by the Daily Mail for insisting the government needed an Act of Parliament to invoke Article 50. All other political parties, members of the House of Lords and in fact anyone that has disagreed with Mrs May have been described as ‘saboteurs’ purely for having different views on Brexit. Then, last month, a group of Conservative MP’s were named and shamed including their pictures as ‘malcontents’ for voting against the government on ensuring Parliament has a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal reached between the UK and the EU. Though just why said newspaper quoted Nadine Dorries saying they should be ‘deselected’ is heavily ironic considering she faced calls to be sacked for going on I’m a Celebrity in 2012. read more

2017 Snap General Election: The Manifesto Comparison

I have been away awhile from this blog whilst working on job applications and in general taking a well-needed break. However, with Britain going back to the polls in a surprise General Election this week; there feels like no time like the present to get back into it…

In this post, as the title suggests, I will be comparing the election manifesto’s put forward by the two parties most likely to be in government come the morning of 9th June. That means it is a straight comparison of the Labour and Conservative Parties in the battle for the keys of Number 10 Downing Street.

Whilst I can be accused of being narrow-minded in only comparing these two parties and not a broad range as you have seen in the TV debates; I do have my reasons:
1. Since the EU referendum last year, UKIP have been a farce electing a new leader in Diane James before she lasted only 18 days in the job before resigned. However, even with a newly established leader in Paul Nuttall (who seems to want the job), they are now a spent force and their timing of their manifesto launch could not have been anymore distasteful; within 48 hours of the Manchester Arena attack.
2. Plaid Cymru and the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) only contest seats in Wales and Scotland respectively. Whilst the SNP won the majority of the seats in Scotland back in 2015; they do not contest enough seats to win a majority and therefore very unlikely to be in government
3. The Green Party finished the 2015 election with an almost equal share of the vote as UKIP but like the SNP and Plaid Cymru, they don’t have a realistic chance of being involved in government.
4. The Liberal Democrats under the leadership of Tim Farron were originally going to be a part of this comparison but my mind was easily altered after reading just the first two pages of their Manifesto. Farron was brutally honest in his assessment and deserves credit for that in admitting the party are unlikely to win the election and are merely competing to be the official opposition. However, for the sake of this comparison, I am not going to cover a party who is not aiming to win. read more