Foot-shooting

The Times analyses the Boris Brexit strategy:

Mr Johnson says he possesses not just “an understanding of government” but also “a very clear picture of how to get it done”. This amounts to preparing for a no-deal Brexit while saying you don’t want a no-deal Brexit. It is akin to arguing that, gosh, shooting myself in the foot is a bad idea but even so it is very important to keep the option of shooting myself in the foot on the table. This being so, the best way of not shooting myself in the foot is to prepare to shoot myself in the foot. Both feet, if it comes to that.

As strategies go, this one certainly goes. There is a whiff of Blackadder about it, however, and it seems a cunning plan in the Baldrickian sense. Moreover, it also rests upon the assumption that other EU leaders have no awareness of what is said and written in Britain. Newsflash: they can hear us and many of them can read us too.

It will end in tears ...