Sputnik: What is your assessment of Mr. Raab, who is now in charge of the UK’s departure from the EU?
Dr. Marcus Papadopoulos: Mr. Raab for a number of years now has been regarded as a rising star within the Conservative Party and someone who one day could become leader of the Conservative Party.
Now he is a very fierce opponent of Britain’s membership of the European Union, but I think the difference between him and Mr. Davis is that Mr. Raab is very competent. He is very shrewd.
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David Davis is very popular amongst conservative MPs and the grassroots; there were always question marks about his competence, especially when it came to face-to-face negotiations with European Union officials, for example, Mr. Juncker.
Now, I don’t think there is going to be a competence issue when it comes to Dominic Raab, he is highly competent. That’s not just my opinion, but I think it would be fair to say it’s the general opinion amongst people at Westminster.
Sputnik: Now how likely is the cabinet turmoil to boost the eurosceptic factions if the government isn’t going to realign the balance towards the remaining majority within the cabinet now?
Dr. Marcus Papadopoulos: Europe is a potentially deadly issue for the Conservative Party and it has been a potentially deadly issue for the Conservative Party for many decades now. Let us not forget, under John Major, stemming from the Maastricht treaty of 1992, the Conservative Party descended into a brutal, horrific civil war, which put the Conservative Party back years and years.
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They were in opposition for years and years. It is possible that civil war of some magnitude could develop today within the Conservative Party. While something like three-quarters of conservative MPs supported Britain’s membership of the European Union, the right of the Conservative Party is extremely popular amongst the grassroots and I sense … that Mr. Davis’s resignation is galvanizing them now to take action against Theresa May.
They do not believe Theresa May is suitable to carry out Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union and they feel that Theresa May will not carry out what is referred to as being a hard Brexit.
What I would say is this: Would Boris Johnson be more competent in that role as prime minister? I doubt that. Let’s be fair, if Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, was prime minister he would be faced with a herculean task.
This is an extremely complicated, difficult issue for Britain, the most challenging issue since the Second World War.
The views and opinions expressed by Dr. Marcus Papadopoulos are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
