UK White Paper scrapes through parliament but founders against EU wall

Engineering Train at Ely

The government continue to have a battle on it's hand, both with itself and in Parliament as the soft Brexit supporters attempted to introduce their amendments.

It is perhaps a sign of the bitterness and close balance between different approached to Brexit, that the conservativ e chief whip felt he could press Tory MPs to renege on their pairing deals. Pairing deals have been a respected route for MPs who cannot attend a particular parliamentary sitting, to pair with one of the opposition, effectively cancelling their vote.

LibDem MP Jo Swinson, who was on maternity leave, must have felt particularly aggrieved on the betrayal of that trust by her agreed partner on the Tory side, party chairman, Brandon Lewis. He did claim afterwards that he had handled in error in the heat of the moment and apologised. However, when the government wins by the skin of its teeth with a couple of votes, the pressure to break rules, written or unspoken, is obviously very great.

Mind you, it is all political pissing in the wind, a senseless struggle for dominance in internal politics with scant regard for the reality outside. When the governments white paper was presented to the EU negotiators, their was a polite interest as a starting point, but a gentle reminder that it did not meet EU requirements on mobility within the EU market and the need for no hard border on Ireland. The EU had also released their white paper asking member states to consider preparing for a hard brexit or crah out by the UK. Whatever concessions have to be made to the EU by UK negotiators led by Dominic Raab will re-ignite the internal UK battles and likely shoot the amended document down on its return to parliament.

The pound-euro rate is a realistic barometer of how things are progressing and they do not look favourable - the value of the pound has dropped to €1.12.

We have had the second of two new book titles arrive back from the printer this week, 'Sons of Scotland' is now completed, a week after 'Alzheimers - My Turn Next'. I travelled to Ely twice on the train this week. The second time, I took my bike on the train so I could cycle to an appointment at the other end. A great way to travel, at least during off-peak times.

Trump Completes Elephant in China Shop Foreign Trip in Helsinki. May's Chequers Brexit Plans Damaged

First, the good news, to quote one report - The President is returning from his foreign policy trip abroad. The bad news, he lent more credence to the statements of President Vladimir Putin than his own American security agencies and military and private advisers. Russian interference in the US elections, the invasion of Crimea, the poisoning of the Skripals and innocent civilians in the UK with Novichok, all appear to mean nothing in comparison to Mano a Mano male bonding of one world leader and a wannabee. Though now it is not clear who is who.

There must be serious considerations going on in European and Nato capitals about whether the US can really be trusted with their own security information anymore. Even some Republicans in the US are aghast at the elephant in a china shop approach of their president to foreign policy.

The Prime Minister had to accept several amendments to her Chequers Brexit plans that were submitted by brexiteers. Outrage in parliament. The amendments just squeeked through by a couple of votes. Brexiteers are crowing that they believe that this might have killed off the Chequers deal once it is presented to the EU.

The political excitement of the day barely served to rouse me from the apathy after a busy weekend (and a migraine). We took it easy as the hot summer continues.

Trump Destabilises and Antagonises UK. May Asserts Herself. Our Open Studio Suffers Sport and Heat

Artwork 'Amoeba'

I've deliberately left a couple of days to cover the Trump visit to the UK as his position is constantly changing as he plays his destabilisation card again. It began with an interview with The Sun where he intimated that the White Paper, that Prime Minister Theresa May had negotiated with her cabinet, would mean the that the UK could not get a trade deal with the US. He also praised Boris Johnson. Apparently the news came out just as he was sitting down with Theresa May for dinner at Chequers. The next day he was all charm and praise for the Prime Minister in her presence. His visit evinced major demonstrations against him in London, Edinburgh and near his Scottish golf club, where  70% of the populations views him unfavourably.

His whole visit became major news, and again left his hosts wondering in which direction he was going to jump next. Tellingly, it was against the EU, Russia and China, all described as Foes before he set off on his flight to meet President Putin of Russia in Helsinki.

Prime Minister May appears to have weathered both the storm of the Trump visit AND the resignations of Johnson and David Davis from her cabinet. Major Brexiteers are beginning to make noises, but it looks as if the PM is relying on the fact that she is the only one with concrete proposals in the White Paper.

Our days before the Weekend were spent in final preparations for our first Cambridge Open Studio Weekend. Which arrived with a blaze of heat, the World Cup and Wimbledon Finals, The Duxford Airshow and the Big Weekend in Cambridge. Visitor numbers were therefore low compared to previous years. Sales were low, but we were rewarded with some interesting conversations and unexpected shared interests with visitors.

The Amoeba sculpture relied on visitors to animate it, which they did with a little encouragement, resulting in the gif animation above.

Our hopes for a bit of rain and a cooler next weekend to bring out the visitors appears to be disappearing , if the changing weather forecast is any thing to go by.

Trumpeting and Misinformation at the NATO summit.

Fisherman's tales?

President Trump lands in Brussels for the NATO meeting and launches two broadsides. One, that the other NATO countries should up their contributions as at present the US was paying for their security. Two, that Germany was totally under Russian control due to a 60 to 70% dependency of its energy supplies from Russia.

The call for the other NATO members to spend more on their military budget (2% of their GDP) is an old one already made by President Obama, and NATO countries are responding. The number of countries spending 2% of their GDP on defence will increase from 3 to 8 in 2018. It should be noted that the large US spending on it's military in Europe is in part due to the convenience/necessity to have bases that are closer geographically to theatres where the US has a military influence.

The accusation of German total dependency on Russia for energy is just crass and inaccurate, as any fact checker will tell you. What's more, as Angela Merkel gently pointed out, she had the experience of what it had been like to live in East Germany, dependent on Russia, and knew that she was now enjoying living in a free united Germany that could make its own decisions.

The suspicion is that this confrontational approach is on the one hand primarily directed at the home voters, and on the other intended to push for a deal. Fortunately, this time the US remained committed to the principles of NATO and supporting it.

Other news of the day, England lost against Croatia in the semifinals - news coverage expected to return to normal in the next few days.

Today, we cleared out the garage and repaired the holes in the whiteboards to be used for our Cambridge Open Studios exhibition this weekend. I also completed the mounts for the first run of lino-prints and prepasred the 25+ individual units for my planned mobile, interactive sculpture.

British Politics Navel Gazing after BoJo and David Davis Depart.

Summer over the Ouse.

Today I've been aroused out of my Brexitrump apathy. Boris has decided to forgo 'polishing the turd' of Prime Minister May's Chequers agreement on a softer Brexit negotiating position. Instead, the proverbial excrement is hitting the fan with the Tory Party in disarray. However, Brexiteers have not accumulated enough votes within the Tory party for a leadership challenge. So, David Davis and Boris Johnson are out of Government.

All this internal wrangling is a bit like fiddling while Rome burns. This in a week where the UK is supposed to be a sensible partner in a major NATO meeting later this week; the Prime Minister needs to meet with Angela Merkel and welcome President Trump to the UK. The President Trump that plans to remonstrate with NATO and then go on for a personal meeting with President Putin in Russia. This, after in a UK citizen dies due to inadvertent exposure to the nerve agent Novichock, which the UK, supposedly a US ally, believes was left over from a Russia orchestrated attack on a former Russian spy.

So Britain continues to drift like a rudderless ship towards a possible hard Brexit.

We currently have far more pressing issues on our minds than the mere collapse of British politics as we know it: We are in the final stages of planning our Cambridge Open Studio, opening this coming weekend.