Andrew Neil is in the process of setting up GB News in a project that looks poised to rock Britain’s broadcasting establishment. The former editor of The Sunday Times is one of the most highly regarded voices in the world of politics ‒ and his analysis of the EU after Brexit will make for grim reading in Brussels. Addressing an audience at the Centre for Independent Studies, Mr Neil called the rise of populism at the end of the last decade “the most important political, democratic, development of our time”.
He argued that the combination of Leave’s victory in the 2016 referendum and Donald Trump winning the US Presidency sparked fear across European capitals over what could happen next.
But he pointed out that Brussels was handed a “get-out-of-jail card”, only for leaders to do nothing with it.
He argued: “After Brexit in the summer of 2016 and the election of Mr Trump, Europe feared that the populist wave that produced Brexit and produced Mr Trump ‒ both of them predicted not to happen by all mainstream pundits and by all the opinion polls ‒ that Europe was in for some trouble.
“And yet it looked for a while as if Europe was going to get a get-out-of-jail card.”
Mr Neil then explained how European leaders relaxed after the reelection of Mark Rutte in the Netherlands and Emmanuel Macron’s landslide victory in France.
He continued: “In March of 2017, Geert Wilders in Holland did not do as well as he hoped to and Mr Rutte, the mainstream Prime Minister, remained Prime Minister.
“The mainstream parties lost, Wilders did quite well, but not enough for a breakthrough.
“And then came the biggest hope of all, when Mr Macron swept all before him in the French Presidential election.
“Not only winning two-to-one in the second round of voting but getting a landslide majority for a party that hadn’t even existed a year ago in the French Parliament.
READ MORE: Emmanuel Macron’s recovery plot with EU Commission sparks outrage
While in Italy, Matteo Salvini rose to the rank of Deputy Prime Minister.
Further still, despite being the leading light of this “get-out-of-jail card”, Mr Macron has at times had worse approval ratings than Mr Trump did in the US.
Indeed, ahead of the 2022 French Presidential election, he faces the unenviable task of fighting off a resurgent Marine Le Pen.
The bloc’s future looks even more uncertain today than it did at the time of Mr Neil’s address.
European leaders have come under fire for their slow rollout of coronavirus vaccines.
The NHS has vaccinated over 60 percent of the adult population in the UK.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has enjoyed widespread praise for the effective vaccine rollout.
Whereas in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is under huge scrutiny as the EU’s row with AstraZeneca rumbles on.
