Re: All too late
I think it does matter. What we have demonstrated is what we're run by incompetent clowns who are utterly useless at both knowing what they want and then negotiating a deal to get it.
So there are two options: one is that we stay in the EU. Anyone negotiating, say a trade deal, does so knowing that there is at least one member of the EU run by clueless buffoons, but that the EU as a whole is run by reasonably competent people and is generally a major player, and they are going to need to negotiate with them. The EU will continue to get good deals as a result.
The other is that we leave: we're now a small player who has just demonstrated in the most public possible way that we're run by clowns who, if they are asked to do anything complicated like eating their own food, will start biting each other furiously for months on end while their heads catch fire before eventually forgetting what it was they were meant to be doing and setting each other's farts on fire. We are going to get walked all over in every single fucking trade deal we try to negotiate, because we're run by clowns, and everyone knows we are.
So our reputation is lost either way, but one way so is our livelihood.
The only thing that makes this less embarrassing is watching Trump, who makes UK politicians look kind of competent. Clowns they may be but they don't spend their time attacking dead war-heroes on twitter: that's some whole next-level clownery. Even Boris isn't up to that. Unfortunately Trump is the kind of clown who weighs a thousand stone, and can sit on you and crush you, while we're not.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
