Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s main Brexit negotiator, tweeted on Monday: ‘Any #Brexit deal requires a strong & stable understanding of the complex issues involved. The clock is ticking — it’s time to get real.’ This was on the same day as media reports — allegedly leaked by associates of Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president — criticised Theresa May for her naivety about Brexit talks at the dinner she gave Mr Juncker last week. These tactics are intended to affect our general election. By throwing Mrs May’s campaign slogan adjectives ‘strong and stable’ back in her face, Mr Verhofstadt was goading her at the decisive moment of her political career. So were the friends of Mr Juncker. It is not clear why. Are they so ignorant of the British electorate that they think they can make Mrs May reverse her policy, or even lose on 8 June? Are they just ill-disciplined in their anger? Or am I missing something? I find it hard to tell whether they understand their own best interests. The history of the EU suggests that its leaders are good at defending bureaucratic power, but get a bit flummoxed by democracy.
Because it is 20 years this week since the new dawn broke and Tony and Gordon took over, it is also 20 years since Bank of England independence. Announced on 6 May 1997, it was New Labour’s key signal of financial virtue, of starting as they meant to go on. The change was widely supported, especially by non-socialists. The only prominent conservative who opposed it was Margaret Thatcher. How does it look now? I still wouldn’t dare argue that it shouldn’t have happened — it was the last battle in the Thirty Years War against inflation, and it had to be won. But it has had two bad effects.
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