During the BREXIT referendum a number of Tory MPs formed a group to campaign for the country to leave the EU. For many it was a difficult decision because it meant breaking with the Prime Minister for which their jobs would now become at risk.
The accusations hurled at each other were quite vitriolic, each camp wheeling one after another of their clan to denounce the other side as liars, hair brained or demented and it was hard to see how the Tory Party could stick itself back together again.
One person who was almost invisible in the fracas was Teresa May the Home Office Minister. She avoided overtly siding with Cameron although she was thought to be against the leave campaign and sat it out on the sidelines. Now she is gathering votes from the parliamentarians to become the front runner to take over Cameron's job with the main responsibility to anchor the negotiations for our exit and any new relationship we can evolve with the EU.
It's strange to me, unless this is some sort of stitch up to try to continue as before, that not only is her heart not in the job, and here Cameron deserves a lot of praise for recognising it was not appropriate for him to head such a negotiation, it hardly seems appropriate for her to head up a reformed Government. Whilst she deliberately kept such a low profile it does not absolve her from her stance that whilst the other politicians were nailing their colours to the mast, she was "sitting on the fence".
Andrea Leadsom was always seen as a person who not only believed in coming out from the EU but was positive about our chances of succeeding as an economic state outside the Union. Her background in the financial services and in fact, having a background in anything at all outside politics puts her in a favourable position to negotiate a reasonable economically viable exit.
One of the phenomena which has raised its head is that we don't have sufficient well trained business and trade negotiators within the Civil Service to close the deals with other countries. It's a bit like a prisoner leaving prison after a long stretch where everything was done for him and now he has to do it for himself. The straight jacket of the EU has made us economically illiterate in forming trade deals. This from a country which initiated trade across the world, we have become lazy and economically inarticulate.
There have been offers from the Scandinavian countries to send in teams to bolster our lack of experience and it goes to show when you descend into the 'gravy chain' you become complacent and second best. One of the opportunities arising from a break away will be the necessity to retrain ourselves in the world of trade where the skill of a 'long term' success is the 'terms' you acquire.
I see on the front page of the Telegraph a small item of news which to my mind should have been the headline. It reported the Chinese as saying they looked forward to entering negotiations with the U.K. because their experience of negotiating with the EU had been slow and too drawn out.
To give the nation the boost it needs after all the doom and gloom of the past few months stories like this are vital but instead we have pages of news and comment on the Chilcot Report which, whilst important, deals with the "past" and Tony Blairs determination to go to war with George Bush against Saddam Hussain. The important statement regarding the Chinese approach to trading with us, in stark contrast to the Americans (our friends) who maintain we must "go to the back of the queue" and should be front page news, whilst Chilcot , reserved for the centre spread.
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