If I was writing to our Prime Minister, Mrs Theresa May - This is what I would say:
Dear Prime Minister, I am so slow to have only just cottoned on, as to the reason you have not yet concluded a successful negotiation with the European Union. This is after nearly two and a half years and still, no deal concluded.
Your determination, your tenacity and grit as a human being are admirable qualities. However, I am feeling let down, having only just realised that your driving force has all along been your determination to keep the Conservative Party united.
In essence, this means that you are putting "Party before Country" - and in my eyes, this is really unforgivable.
Just as you already preside over a split party, you also are Prime Minister of an increasingly split country.
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but part of your job is to heal and lead. To do what is best for everyone, not just some minority groups who have leverage over you.
Surely you can see how divided our country is and you must have realised by now that the Conservative Party is going to divide, as sure as eggs are eggs!
Of course, the Labour Party will fracture as well. But having smaller political parties, that will inevitably demand compromise on all sides, is perhaps no bad thing.
We have a system of democracy, where we choose individuals to represent us. Whilst I could find many improvements in the way we choose the representatives who stand for election, we chose them to lead, not to follow. We expect them to do what is best for the country, not solely for a political party. A few have understood this and acted accordingly.
It is obvious that we need people to come and work in our country, despite the fearful and rather small minded views of some. If we are to thrive as a nation and keep close to our neighbours, the European Union, what could be better than joining The European Free Trade Association. We get the best of all worlds.
We maintain free trade in Europe, which means the uncertanty for so much Business in the UK is removed and of course, the Financial sector in the City of London can continue to thrive, an important issue as it contributes something in the region of 30% of tax revenues. We are free to make our own trade agreements with the rest of the world, we keep free movement in Europe, so business can still have access to their much-needed workforce, and the Irish Backstop conundrum becomes a non-issue, and we have kept faith with the national referendum, that decided by a small margin to leave the EU. Honour is satisfied all around.
The only other solution that I can see, is to hold another referendum.
For the first time in my life, I feel disenfranchised. Jeremy Cornyn's Labour Party are not a Joke, but rather, a collection of thoroughly unpleasant people who are bullies. Common sense concludes that they will divide or be marginalised eventually.
Personally, I can no longer support the Conservative Party, not so long as it contains the members of the ERG or European Research Group - a group, not quite, but nearly the opposite of Jeremy Corbyn's far Left. In my view, a group of prejudiced luddites who I could never follow. They have consistently lied and exaggerated, they cannot be trusted and their narrative and tone is both divisive and unpleasant.
I am searching for common sense, for middle ground, for cohesive leadership and a vision for our future, where our Peoples and our Country can continue to be a force for good in our world.
I think you are a good person Mrs May but you are too close to the coal face - you have lost focus, just as Colonel Nicholson, played by Sir Alec Guinness in "Bridge over the River Kwai" lost all perspective, until, tragically, the very end.
With great respect, your actions indicate you have forgotten you are the Prime Minister of everyone in this country, not just the Conservative Party and the ERG. I appreciate you inherited a poisoned chalice, but with the benefit of hindsight, it is quite clear that the 2016 referendum was carried out in haste and with untruthful and misleading information. So if we are not able to leave the EU by joining the EFTA, another referendum seems perfectly in order.
Rick - Suffolk - UK - 27th February - 2019
rick@notesfromengland