Brexit means borders

A lot can happen in seven days, and no one knows that better than Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who stated at the beginning of this past week that he wanted to “get Brexit done on October 31;” by the end of the week it was revealed that he would “seek a Brexit extension” if no deal was reached by 19 October. We all know that a week is a long time in politics, but how exactly did this happen?

The Prime Minister began the week at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, where Sajid Javid promised to raise the national living wage, Priti Patel promised to end freedom of movement and Johnson’s aide promised to uphold the government’s commitment to the environment by swiping a disposable cup from her boss’s unsuspecting hand.

But the drama couldn’t merely be confined to the conference hall, as early on Tuesday morning RTE news received information that the UK government had proposed the creation of customs posts along both sides of the Irish border in an effort to replace the backstop. These proposals in papers tabled in talks with EU negotiators were dismissed completely by senior sources in Dublin and Brussels.

The Prime Minister later rejected this proposal. In an effort to highlight issues surrounding the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, The Irish Times has produced this infographic of the different crossings and attacks that took place at each one throughout the years of the Troubles.

Boris Johnson subsequently proposed a new plan for leaving the EU on Wednesday. It would replace the backstop with Northern Ireland staying in the European single market for goods but leaving the customs union with the rest of the UK – resulting in new customs checks on the island of Ireland. Within this plan Northern Ireland would only stay aligned with EU standards of goods if Stormont agreed by the end of the transition period, and then in a vote every four years. 

Eagle-eyed followers of Northern Irish politics over the past two and a half years were quick to point out that the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont collapsed almost three years ago, and that the proposals could give any party (read: the DUP) a veto on whether Northern Ireland remains aligned with the EU after Brexit. The DUP has backed the new Brexit plan, which has been rejected by Sinn Féin, the UUP, the SDLP, the Alliance Party, the Northern Ireland Green Party, the TUV, Freight NI, the Federation of Small Businesses in NI, Manufacturing NI, Retail NI, NI retail consortium and CBI – to name a few. 

The Prime Minister’s new plan has been criticised for replacing the issue of a border on the island of Ireland with “two borders for four years,” with Tanaiste Simon Coveney describing them as a “step forward” as Boris Johnson has accepted there must be a “full regulatory alignment for all goods” crossing the Irish border. Coveney added that Ireland is still preparing for a no deal Brexit, as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar listed five possible ways to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, highlighting the backstop as “the best one”:

And just when you thought that things couldn’t get any more complicated for the Prime Minister, another spanner was thrown into the works. 

According to government papers submitted to the Court of Session, Scotland’s highest court, Boris Johnson will send a letter to the EU asking for a Brexit delay if no deal is agreed by 19 October – despite stating in September that he would “rather be dead in a ditch” than agree to extend Brexit. The legal challenge against the Prime Minister has been fronted by the SNP’s Joanna Cherry and Jo Manugham QC, who asked the Court of Session to consider whether it can imprison Boris Johnson if he refuses to abide by the Benn Act and seek such an extension.

It is important to remember that the current deadline of 31 October is the second extension that the EU reluctantly granted the UK government to try to make a deal and thus far Johnson has not given an explanation for these contradicting comments, which is unlikely to win him any fans from Brexit Party supporters as a potential general election looms somewhere in the horizon.

As the clock continues to tick down to what-might-be-but-we-don’t-really-know-if-it-is-or-not-Brexit-deadline-day, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Parliament head David Sassoli are due to travel to Germany for talks with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel this coming week.

 

Impeachment gathers momentum

It’s been another weird and wild week in US politics as the Home Democrats scheduled hearing and issued subpoenas – including for Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, and a request for documents to Vice President Mike Pence – to advance the impeachment process against President Trump. 

Giuliani has admitted to asking Ukrainian officials to investigate corruption allegations against Democratic presidential frontrunner, Joe Biden. However the former Mayor of New York has since downplayed his role in a proposed statement negotiated between US diplomats and Ukrainian officials this summer about fighting corruption. Former Trump envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, told lawmakers in this past week that Giuliani requested that the statement had a direct reference to a gas company connected to Joe Biden’s son.

Volker is a key figure in the past week’s impeachment proceedings, who provided the House Democrats with text messages between top diplomats discussing the effort to pressure the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate Joe Biden and his son.

Within the full transcript of the texts Volker stressed the importance of getting “Zelensky to say that he will help [the investigation into the Bidens]”. Trump has denied quid pro quo with Ukraine, claiming that he did not know the ambassadors involved in the messaging, however Democrats are stating that the text messages are further evidence of the White House using foreign policy to advance political goals.

Meanwhile, Republican Senator Ron Johnson has stated that Gordon Sondland, US ambassador to Ukraine who was involved in these text messages, told him in August that the release of US aid to Ukraine was dependent on an investigation desired by Trump. Trump denied pursuing such a proposal when Johnson pressed him on it. 

But wait! The scandal doesn’t end there!

In the last week it was also revealed that the Trump administration asked multiple world leaders to investigate the Bidens and the Trump-Russia inquiry. In addition to this, on Thursday Trump publicly called on China to investigate the Bidens, telling reporters that “if they don’t do what we want, we have tremendous power.” Trump has now solicited assistance in discrediting his political opponents from Ukraine, Australia, Italy, China and, according to one report, the UK. The President has stated that there is nothing wrong with seeking foreign help to fight corruption. 

Polls are showing that there is an increase in support for impeaching the President following the events of this week, especially among Democrats. However Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has dismissed the impeachment inquiry as a “silly gotcha game.” But as a second whistleblower comes forward in the impeachment case the Democrat-led investigating committee has the potential to build a stronger and stronger case against the President. 

 

China celebrates while Hong Kong protests

This past week marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of communist China, as thousands of people demonstrated on the streets of Hong Kong against a protest ban that had been put in place for China’s “National Day” on 1 October.

After 18 consecutive weeks of protest the commemoration was viewed as a possible turning point in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, with some calling it a “national day of grief” in direct defiance of celebrations in Beijing. This new name for the day proved to be tragically fitting after a police officer shot at Hong Kong protestors with live ammunition, escalating the violence and shooting one protestor directly in the chest.

Hong Kong police stated that the policeman opened fire as he “felt his life was under serious threat.”  At least 66 people were injured during the protest, the youngest only 11 and the oldest 75. Two were left in a critical condition and two in a serious condition. 

Following the increasingly violent protests, Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam invoked emergency powers this past Friday to ban face masks, stating that it was a “necessary decision considering the situation.” The law banned any sort of mask or face covering from lawful protests and unlawful assemblies. However the ban only appeared to galvanise those opposed to Hong Kong’s government, with masked protestors continuing to demonstrate after the law was put in place this past Friday night.

A legal challenge by pro-democracy legislators to suspend the ban on face masks has since been dismissed by the High Court. This uptick in violence in Hong Kong is feared to have an impact on the local economy, as protests tso far have deterred tourists from visiting the city. However, the anti-government marches are showing few signs of stopping, as attacks on government offices, metro stations and businesses with ties to mainland China continued throughout the weekend. 

 

New revelations about Operation Midland

There were calls for the deputy leader of the Labour Party, Tom Watson, to resign after the publication of a report on the Operation Midland affair. The Widow of Lord Brittan of Spennithorne and son of Labour MP Lord Janner – both of whom were accused of child sexual abuse as part of Scotland Yard’s botched inquiry into a fictitious Westminster paedophile ring – have stated that the MP is “partially responsible” for putting pressure on the police investigation. Lord Brittain died of cancer before he could be cleared of the alleged offences. 

The report declared that former military chief Lord Bramall, former home secretary Leon Brittan and former Conservative MP Harvey Proctor were innocent of all charges of child sexual abuse. It was revealed that the key witness Carl Beech (known at the time only as Nick) was a fantasist. Beech had alleged that he was among the victims of an “establishment group” – including the falsely accused politicians – who had abused boyd in the 1970s and 1980s.

In the 16-month-long investigation the homes of the accused were raided as part of the investigation, but the review of Scotland Yard’s inquiry also revealed that the warrants to search the homes of the wrongly accused suspects were obtained “unlawfully,” Beech was jailed for 18 years after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice, fraud and child sexual offences.

The Metropolitan Police spent £2.5 million investigating his claims and the police commissioner, Cressida Dick, has been urged to consider her position. The Independent Office for Police Conduct has formally cleared the Met commissioner of wrongdoing.

The new report into the inquiry has revealed the impact of Tom Watson’s involvement in the investigation after meeting with Carl Beech and sending a letter to the head of the Crown Prosecution Service intervening in the case, which allegedly sent the police into a “state of panic.” Watson has refuted these claims that he encouraged Beech to go to the police.  

 

Protests in Iraq

Anti-government protests have taken place in Iraq, spurred on by unemployment, lack of public services and Iranian influence in the country. The protests descended into violence after security forces fired live rounds and tear gas. The five days of protests have left nearly 100 people dead and thousands wounded. 

The current Prime Minister of Iraq, Adel Abdul Mahdi, has only been in power for a year, and although Iraqis have held mass demonstrations for the last few years over both a lack of basic services and government corruption, these pose a serious threat to his power. Protestors are now threatening to take down the government as the United Nations calls for an end to what it is describing as a “senseless loss of life.”  

As of Thursday, the Iraqi government imposed a curfew and restricted up to 75% of the country’s Internet access. However, the current unrest is the deadliest that Iraq has seen since the declared defeat of the Islamic State in 2017. Many expect the violence to continue, harking back to the Arab Spring protests of the early 2010s.