Thanks Boris
It is usual for journalists to concentrate on the headline and talk about what has just been announced. So the UK’s return to Horizon is in the news with little in the first rough drafts but the good news, the welcome by scientists and the spin doctoring by the government over what a great deal the PM negotiated.
So, let me just provide some background.
We were in Horizon, we were leaders in Horizon and Horizon was one of the few if not the only part of the talks to leave the EU where the UK had the EU over a barrel. Namely they wanted access to Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial (and a few others) because they are three of the top ten universities in the world.
And still the UK managed to cock it up, get itself excluded for two whole years, undermine its reputation and trustworthiness and then it dragged its feet about returning to a scheme from which it has always got far more than it put in.
Why?
Because the EU saw that Boris Johnson was threatening to tear up the TCA and threaten the Good Friday Agreement and therefore blocked the UK’s scientists from Horizon as punishment until common sense returned to No.10.
You see, Boris Johnson’s lies, laziness, lack of detail and callous indifference to the consequences of his actions was more than a farce, it was extremely damaging to the country and its reputation, and as we now see its science base.
Only when BJ was ousted did a new PM agree a deal on Northern Ireland and that allowed the UK to return to Horizon. Even then he dragged his heels, trying to pretend he was negotiating a better deal or there was another serious alternative option to consider. I suppose he had to do that to be seen to be playing hard ball for the sake of his Brexit ultras.
All this when the UK had the EU over a barrel.
It illustrates perfectly how badly the negotiations to leave the EU were handled from day one, from Theresa May right up until today. If you could make a mess of Horizon when the EU was desperate for us to stay in and we desperately wanted to stay in, what on earth could the UK have achieved in other areas with pragmatism and common sense and a list of achievable aims?
But politics and politicians move on. As Mr. Johnson knew full well he would be no where near the scene of the crime by the time anyone worked out what had happened. No one will be able to lay a finger on him, there is no mechanism for holding him or anyone else to account.
If only it was Horizon that he had made a total mess of, if only.
Thanks Boris
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.
By Jonty Bloom Media