Iran Press/Europe: The UK government has re purposed Cold War emergency evacuation planning to prepare for the chance of violence and mayhem following a no-deal Brexit, and the need to protect the royal family.
According to the Sunday Times, fears of Britain making a disorderly departure from the EU have spiked in recent days following a vote in the UK parliament demanding that Prime Minister Theresa May renegotiate the Brexit withdrawal agreement to change the backstop provision on the Northern Ireland border.
Neither May nor leaders in parliament have put forward a specific alternative proposal and EU negotiators insist that there is none because the issue was discussed exhaustively at the bargaining table. European leaders around the Continent and senior EU officials in Brussels have said there will be no renegotiation without a substantial shift in U.K. red lines.
It is unclear how seriously Whitehall officials are taking the prospect of a royal evacuation, which would presumably follow an outbreak of riots in London. But both the Times and the Mail said officials are worried about increasing efforts to draw the royal family into the intractable Brexit debate that continues to roil the country.
The queen has generally steered clear of the rancorous debate, though she did appear to weigh in, however subtly, in a recent speech in which she called for Britons to 'seek out the common ground' and not lose sight of the 'bigger picture'.
Among those who have called for royal intervention is hardline Brexiter, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who urged the queen to suspend parliament if necessary to stop MPs seeking to delay Brexit. The Mail quoted Rees-Mogg as ridiculing those responsible for the evacuation plans. "The over-excited officials who have dream up this nonsense are clearly more students of fantasy than of history," he said.
The Times quoted an official describing the need for a royal evacuation as "extremely unlikely." But the prospect of the queen being rushed to safety in a secret operation now joins the list of worst-case Brexit fears alongside potential shortages of food and medicine.
British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal finally won majority support in parliament after she caved to Tory, Euro sceptic and pledged to go back to Brussels to demand changes to the Irish backstop.
May and her senior advisers are not waving victory flags at the moment, with the developments in London receiving a frosty reaction in Brussels and Dublin.105/201
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