Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. 

Although I worked closely with Iain Duncan Smith in his brief time as leader of the Conservative Party, I did not share his politics.  As long ago as the Maastricht Treaty when he was one of John Major’s infamous ‘illegitimates,’ IDS was steadfast in his distaste for the European Union and all its wares.  I respect his consistency and principle, even though I’ve always thought he was wrong on the merits and that the arguments he and his fellow ‘ultra’ travellers in the European Research Group pedalled smacked of sentimental nostalgia for a Britain long since lost.

Later, when Ken Clarke ran for the Tory leadership for the third and final time in 2005 (having failed in 1997 and 2001), I played a minor part in his campaign.  On the day of his announcement I and another member of his team were to meet the great man in the lobby of Portcullis House before meeting his parliamentary supporters in his office upstairs.

True to form, he was late. And when Ken did arrive, ducking in from a torrential downpour, he did so in a grossly oversized hooded puffer jacket dripping with the elements.

Knowingly oblivious to the presentational requirements of the political age, the back of his jacket adorned a huge logo advertising Lucky Strike cigarettes, a brand owned by British American Tobacco (on whose board Ken served).  His shoes, brown and suede, handmade - not Hush Puppy - were soaked.  His boosters were already assembled in his office when we arrived; and a motley crew they made.  Gathered were MPs Ann Widdecombe (before she was dragged across the Strictly dance floor like a sack of spuds), Tim Yeo (the doyenne of the extra-marital affairs), the former speaker John “I'm not a Bully” Bercow and Ken’s trusty lieutenant Andrew Tyrie.  The crew was neither pretty nor effective.

That said, Ken Clarke remains one of the giants of contemporary British politics and, so far as I’m concerned, one of the greatest Prime Ministers the country never had.  That he ended his 49 years in service to the Conservative Party and the country with the whip withdrawn for voting with his conscience against the European Union withdrawal bill, was scandalous. A demonstration of just how far from grace our politics and public discourse has fallen.

During his political career Ken was variously Chancellor of the Exchequer, Justice Secretary, Home Secretary, Health Secretary and Education Secretary.  Throughout, he remained (no pun intended) a passionate supporter of, and advocate for, the European Union, a position that caused him little trouble even when serving in the Thatcher cabinet.  He can now enjoy his retirement, shrouded in swirling pungent cigar smoke, listening to jazz and watching Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club; safe in the knowledge that he did his bit as Rome was falling.

And it has come to this.  It seems likely that at the end of this month we will crash out of the European Union without a post-Brexit agreement deal with our “European friends and partners” (as BoJo calls them… with his usual sincerity).  This on the strength of a 52%-48% vote 40 years after the British people joined Europe through a referendum margin of two to one.  As talks between the two parties founder, the Royal Navy has been put on alert with four of our remaining fleet slated to patrol our coastal waters to protect our fish from those dreadful Gallic marauders across the channel.  Am I alone in feeling that this is all a bit, well, small?

The problems and attendant search for solutions that will consume humanity in the immediate decades to come – climate change; endemic inequalities of health and wealth; water, food and energy security; migration; and of course pandemic – are by definition shared and international.  For me, these things trump the relative pettifogging of institutional bureaucracy, judicial subsidiarity, and free movement across borders.  The neo-liberal economic orthodoxy that belies the appeal of sovereignty to those who chose our current divergent path has not, and will not, save the world.

I am not an advocate for overturning our decision to leave.  I accept the decision taken by the people and affirmed in Parliament.  However, I wish it were otherwise and I don’t accept that Britain has chosen the right path.  At this last, I can only hope that, under the blinding arc lights of media scrutiny, the threat of a no-deal Brexit feels greater than the actual prospect of it.  The political theatre played out between Britain and Europe demands posturing and brinksmanship it seems.  I am sure however that neither side can emerge from these negotiations with any great merit or with their dignity intact.  We will all be the poorer if an agreement can’t be reached.

I sincerely hope that the fears of thousands of lorries backed up at our borders, of never-ending queues at passport control, of food shortages and inflated food prices, of new tariffs on our goods and services and other social and economic disadvantages all prove unfounded.  Sadly I don’t think they will; Ken is right and IDS is wrong.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

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