Here’s a highly recommended article by Fraser Nelson, the Editor of the Spectator.

Boris Johnson is praised for being a decisive leader but the article looks at the political context, focusing on botched decisions by the Home Office, which are once again blamed on the systems with EU applicants for permanent UK residency told by the Home Office that they pressed the wrong keys.

I am a UK national, living in Cyprus, having recently received permanent residency in Cyprus. Because of demand, it took me a about four months to get and interview at Immigration – I used an agent at a cost of EUR200. The requirements were well documented. It’s important to have the right documents available. The interview at the Immigration Department, with my agent, took a few minutes and my certificate of permanent residency came through as promised several months later.

The UK Home Office has a long history of complaints and poor service to the public. If you open the link you will see an article which describes how the Home Office has profited financially by outsourcing decisions whilst complaints have escalated. Whether it’s outsourcing or systems failures, the Home Office never seems to blame the Minister for interventions and reversals. Of course, many question Preti Patel’s credentials as Home Office Minister. For sure the Home Office is heading for further scandals. Fraser Nelson questions whether the omnishambles will be on the scale of the Windrush scandal.

Rather than focus on the major battle lines, strategy and tactics, precipitated Boris Johnson, Fraser Nelson deep dives into the context – for me the analogy is whether there will be shovels to dig trenches. He tries but fails to paint Boris Johnson as a ‘One Nation Tory’. I remember well both David Cameron and Theresa May coming to power with one nation credentials – they failed to deliver, impaling themselves on Brexit.

In my judgement, Fraser Nelson is one of the shrewdest political commentators of his generation. This article gives us a subjective insight into the Government’s readiness for Brexit. For me, the natural tendency is to speculate on other high risk areas. I have seen central UK government’s risk management first hand and am deeply fearful for Brexit. Meanwhile, the stakes have never been higher for MPs to be accountable.

The article is entitled ‘Battle Begins’. History reminds us that when the jingoism subsides, there is often much blood and tears before victory or defeat.

Thoughts?