On Wednesday evening at ExCel Boris Johnson brandished a kipper from a smokehouse on the Isle of Man.
He was outraged that EU rules dictate that kippers sent through the post should be accompanied by a plastic ice pillow. “Pointless, expensive, environmentally-damaging health and safety, ladies and gentlemen, we will bring the kippers back. It’s not a red herring.”
It was pure pantomime and how the Conservatives chortled. It was also an inverted pyramid of piffle. Like crime in multi-storey car parks it is wrong on so many different levels. The Isle of Man is not in the EU but in order to send food products through the post to EU countries it has to comply with UK legislation which originates in Brussels.
A spokesman for the EU jumped in to point out, wholly erroneously, that sending kippers is not covered by EU rules but a matter for member states. In fact the regulations are a shared competence but the delicious irony of Kippergate is this.
“In actuality, the situation is that the temperature control requirement is mandated by EU law. But neither the EU nor the UK sets out in law any specific temperatures at which such foods must be kept if sent by mail order. Producers – on the basis of an EU-mandated risk assessment – decide what is best for their foods.” Eureferendum.com, Dr Richard North.
Dr North has been posting daily since 2004. He started out campaigning for a referendum to leave the EU. When his battle was won he thought about the manner of our leaving, strongly opposing a no-deal and has provided plenty of evidence to support his prudent approach. I read his blog most days because mainstream journalists cannot compete with his expertise, or should that be competence.
Walking in Richmond Park can be challenging for a dog owner.