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Twitter reacts to Lord Frost’s resignation

As millions tuned into the BBC's hugely popular Strictly final, news was released that Lord Frost had resigned from government. Here is how Twitter reacted.

Anna DamskibyAnna Damski
December 19, 2021
in Brexit, UK
David Frost, the UK's Brexit negotiator, resigns. Photo by Number 10 via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

David Frost, the UK's Brexit negotiator, resigns. Photo by Number 10 via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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Lord David Frost’s shock resignation is a major blow to the Prime Minister, just a day after his party was given a drubbing by the Lib Dems in the North Shropshire byelection. That result called into question Johnson’s leadership — with Frost, a key ally, leaving, an even bigger question mark now hangs over his head.

Frost was responsible for negotiating the UK’s exit from the EU. Once that was done, Johnson rewarded him with a cabinet role at the start of the year. He made him chief negotiator for ‘Task Force One Europe’, responsible for negotiating future agreements with the EU. For the past few months, he’s been locked in talks with European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič to iron out issues with the UK’s post-Brexit arrangements, particularly those relating to fishing rights and the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Negotiations haven’t gone well for the UK. Following a tense few months over rights for French fishermen, Jersey began to issue licences after the EU threatened legal action. According to Clément Beaune, France’s Secretary of State for European Affairs, 93 percent have now been fulfilled.

Government U-turns

Yesterday, in a significant concession, the government abandoned its plan(£) to strip the European Court of Justice of the power to oversee the Northern Ireland Protocol, seen as a key concession to the EU. For months, Number 10 had indicated its willingness to trigger Article 16 of the protocol over the issue. They threatened to ditch customs checks which could have forced a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. The threat received widespread international condemnation, particularly from the EU and US, who were concerned that the step would jeopardise the fragile peace in Northern Ireland.

These two examples are just the latest in a series of recent post-Brexit climb-downs by the government.

Last summer, plans to bring in a UK version of the EU’s product standards CE mark was pushed back to 2023 after pressure from business leaders.

In October, it became clear that there was a critical shortage of truck drivers, and of butchers and poultry workers in meat processing plants. The government caved into pressure and announced a temporary visa scheme to recruit thousands of foreign workers to fill the gaps. Three months later, less than 100 visas have been issued.

Last week, the government announced that its plan for companies to register chemicals on a new UK system has been delayed at least two years. The Guardian lists eight other major U-turns by the government on post-Brexit controls.

Humiliation

But this continual, humiliating erosion of the Brexit deal Frost negotiated is not the reason he has resigned, according to the Mail on Sunday. It was ‘disillusionment at government policy‘ on taxes, net zero politics and Plan B measures that he claims were the last straw.

Although Frost apparently handed in his notice a week ago, Number 10 waited until the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing final to make the announcement. While millions were watching two couples battling it out on the dancefloor, the Twittersphere erupted at the news.

The BBC’s Lewis Goodall posted a copy of Lord Frost’s resignation letter.

NEW: Frost’s resignation letter- he’s decided to stand down with immediate effect, not in January: “You know my concerns about the current direction of travel.” Especially bad for PM as crystallises and legitimises right of the party critique of him over Brexit AND Covid. pic.twitter.com/uWOnmIpidF

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) December 18, 2021

Many, like comedian David Schneider, were sceptical of the reason given for Frost’s resignation.

A reminder that Frost has not resigned over Brexit

Brexit is going well

His threats to the EU have gone well

The 4% Brexit drop in GDP is good

The deal he negotiated & championed then said was awful and tried to tear up is a great deal

This has nothing to do with Brexit.

— David Schneider (@davidschneider) December 18, 2021

Andrew Adonis also didn’t buy Frost’s ‘disagreement at government policies’ claim.

Lord Frost has resigned because he knows his Brexit deal is disintegrating in deep crisis and he wants to get out before the whole fiasco and disaster of Brexit is pinned on him personally as Johnson’s factotum and lackey

— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) December 18, 2021

Anton Spisak notes that Frost is not the only politician closely associated with Brexit who has resigned before the job is completed.

Lord Frost's resignation exemplifies a pattern among all the loud sovereignty purists: upon realising that there are difficult trade-offs inherent in their own choices, they pack their bags and leave, blaming others for the self-inflicted mess.

— Anton Spisak (@AntonSpisak) December 18, 2021

Sarah Hurst references the new border controls to be implemented on imports from January 1 which are expected to cause wide-scale supply chain disruption.

Two weeks before the worst trade disruption in British history occurs, Lord Frost decides to social distance from Brexit.

— Sarah Hurst (@Life_Disrupted) December 18, 2021

Chris Grey looks to Frost’s replacement as an indicator of Johnson’s authority within his party.

Who replaces Frost now will be the key question. The answer will tell us whether Johnson wants a reset to pragmatic, even amicable, relations with EU. And/or whether he is too weak now to defy the Ultras with such a reset.

— Chris Grey (@chrisgreybrexit) December 18, 2021

The FT’s Peter Foster suggests Johnson may have no choice but to appoint a Brexit hard-liner as Frost’s replacement.

Interesting retweet. Frost spent a lot of time tickling ERG tummies…if @BorisJohnson feels need to compensate for Frost walking (given all else gone to sh*t) a reflex defensive tack back towards #brexit purity may follow. Gawd. pic.twitter.com/9YAYcSNcnn

— Peter Foster (@pmdfoster) December 18, 2021

Amongst all the speculation, there was plenty of humour too.

Spare a thought for Lord Frost, it’s not easy to spend two years failing to secure “The easiest deal in history”™

— NewsThump (@newsthump) December 18, 2021

Wanted: ?? Brexit negotiator to negotiate Brexit (that’s already been done)
Essential requirements:https://t.co/XrDHMzSZ1b understanding of how EU works
2.Ability to take 1 step forward & 2 back
3.Views international law as optional
4.Willingness to be thrown under bus by PM

— Martin McKee (@martinmckee) December 18, 2021

Waiting to have it confirmed but I'm hearing Johnson's solution for Lord Frost's departure is to call the army in#JohnsonOut

— PhilM (@PhilMyers53) December 18, 2021

Lord Frost did an Article 16 on himself?‍♂️

— Lloyd Hardy (@LloydHardy) December 18, 2021

Well if he plays to form, it can't be long before Lord Frost condemns Lord Frost for his decision to resign.

— Sean Jones QC (@seanjonesqc) December 18, 2021

it’s the year 2024 and David Frost is seeking to renegotiate the terms of his departure from government

— Henry Mance (@henrymance) December 18, 2021

There’s no doubt Frost’s departure has left the Prime Minister in an even more precarious position than he was after the North Shropshire election results. While many Remainers have been cheering, Peter Foster’s observation that Johnson may decide he has no choice but to shore up his position with his ERG back-benchers by appointing a Brexit hard-liner, may well be borne out.

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Anna Damski

Anna Damski

Anna is Editor-in-chief of East Anglia Bylines. She is also Chair of Suffolk for Europe and a founding member of the Save British Farming campaign. Before retiring to Suffolk, Anna lived in London where she spent many years as a learning and development consultant.

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