The Government’s ‘no deal’ Brexit approach may envisage the
Customs Union depart from these shores as under the sails that saw Childe
Harolde’s ship distance itself from the UK mainland powered by Lord Byron’s pen.
And fleeting shores receded from his sight,
Thus to the elements he poured his last 'Good Night.'
Canto the First, XXXIV, Childe Harolde’s Pilgrimage (Byron, 1812)
But MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castelford , Yvette Cooper’s intervention, at Prime Minister’s Question Time yesterday attached a few barnacles to the hull of the Government fleet which might yet be felt by Ministers keelhauled in light of the staggering lack of communication between the Great Offices of State.
Indeed the Windrush, bobbing amidst the Government’s fleet, seems to be as welcome to 10 Downing Street as was The Fighting Temeraire to the French fleet off Cadiz.
Now, Yvette Cooper’s debate on the Customs Union after Brexit is looking like it could tangle the rudder of the Prime Minister’s flagship as some in the House of Commons seem to be inclined to drop anchor.
Might Byron’s words capture the consequences of setting course through stormy waters with an unsettled crew?
Probably not when enough of the crew have a windward ear to the cries from their constituencies to keep any hint of mutiny at bay.
The Bright Stone of Honour, JMW Turner (1835). Source Britannia Image Quest
Yet could I seat me by this ivied stone,
Till I had bodied forth the heated mind,
Forms from the floating wreck which Ruin leaves behind.
Canto the Fourth, CIV, Childe Harolde’s Pilgrimage (Byron, 1812)