Eyes on the prize in Japan

OPTIMISM, unity and getting into the best shape possible for the awesome challenge ahead: sounds like Boris Johnson’s mantra for a possible No Deal Brexit. Staying positive is great - as long as you can deliver in the end.  Boris could learn a great deal from the tenacity, control and character shown by England cricket hero Ben Stokes in his last innings against Australia, possibly the most remarkable innings ever seen in Ashes test match history, even over-shadowing Ian Botham’s splendid performance at Edgbaston in 1981. Despite the huge negativity surrounding his pre-World Cup personal issues, Stokes let his bat show he could walk the walk. Eddie Jones’s Rugby World Cup campaign this autumn again underlines the many parallels between business and sport, more often than not in areas of leadership, preparedness, determination and matching the right skillset to a job. Several observers have said that Jones’s England team is in better form on the eve of a World Cup than any since 2003’s champions. Priced by bookies at 9/2, they are presently fancied to get to the final. 

 In 2003, England was feeling more optimistic generally: UK GDP growth was 3.3% that year, against a World Bank forecast of 1.4% for 2019. All the more reason for Boris to head to Japan on the weekend of November 1-2 if England reaches at least the Bronze final. A day earlier, he will have taken the UK - “do or die” - out of the EU. Japan is a significant market for the UK as it is among our largest trading partners outside the EU. Our recent trade surplus with Japan,exporting about £12.5bn in goods and services a year while importing about £11.5bn, means Boris faces an awesome challenge of his own in Tokyo to seal the kind of standalone deal that he believes will sustain the UK post-Brexit.