A Very English Coup d’Etat

They say that the devil is in the detail – and that is certainly the case with the government’s Brexit plans on defence and security. On 24 May, Gavin Williamson delivered a major speech on defence at the First Sea Lord’s Seapower Conference. It was a good speech, but then, under cover of the positive news coverage which it attracted, the Department for Exiting the EU slipped out a ‘Technical Note’. They must have hoped nobody would notice. Plenty of Brexiteer ministers didn’t seem to spot it, although goodness knows why not. But at Veterans for Britain, we did notice. We are on Red Alert. There are key civil servants and ministers who we do not trust and so we keep them under close observation.

This ‘Technical Note’ spells out the Government’s ambitions for a ‘deep and special partnership’ with the EU in Defence and Security after Brexit. But as I explained in two reports published in May for the ‘Briefings for Brexit’ website, Britain does not need such a relationship with the EU after we leave.