Man who kept “special place in Hell” for Brexiteers is set to become new Polish PM

EU’s 6th largest economy is about to be led by Brit-hating Donald Tusk

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

EU eurosceptics have just lost their most powerful voice opposing Brussels

On Sunday Poland went to the polls and the result so far is that the ruling government party PiS won, but not by enough to form a government thanks to its PR voting system. The country is now in democratic limbo but sadly for the UK the inevitable outcome will be a coalition government led by Brit- and Brexit-hating Donald Tusk.

The EU has just lost its most powerful voice opposing Brussels and an enthusiastic EU-lover looks set to take charge. Facts4EU.Org reviews the implications for the United Kingdom, of Poland’s election results on Sunday.

A Brexit Facts4EU.Org Series

Part I – The anti-British, anti-Brexit Pole who would be King (This report)
Part II – The British welcome for Polish migrants (Tomorrow)
Part III – How the UK has propped up Poland for decades

Below we summarise the results so far

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Polish election results – provisional, with 21.4m votes counted

PiS (Law & Justice, previous ruling party) : 35.4%
Civic Platform (Tusk) : 30.7%
Third Way : 14.4%
New Left : 8.6%
Confederation for Freedom & Independence : 7.2%

[Sources : Polish National Electoral Commission | Polish National Electoral Office, 17 Oct 2023.]

Tusk set to become Polish PM

Donald Tusk’s party seems likely to secure only 30.6% of the votes compared to the governing party’s 35.5%, but thanks to coalition politics he is by far the most likely person to become Prime Minister of Poland within the next two weeks.

For the Brexit Facts4EU.Org team there are few more dislikeable politicians in the EU than the former EU Council President Tusk. Many readers will recall the smug, supercilious grin on this man’s face as he taunted the UK government during the Brexit negotiations.

“Special place in Hell” for Brexiteers

On 06 February 2019 while EU Council President Tusk held a press conference in Brussels with Irish PM Leo Varadkar where he said there’s a “special place in hell” for Brexiteers. He then tweeted it out :

“I've been wondering what that special place in hell looks like, for those who promoted #Brexit, without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely.”
- Donald Tusk, EU Council President, 06 Feb 2019

It should be noted that he did not do this from his personal Twitter account. This went out from the official EU Council President account, and as such it carried official weight. Remarkably there was no formal British government protest from Theresa May’s administration at the time.

Ungentlemanly conduct

When it comes to his personal conduct, who can forget Tusk treating the then UK PM Theresa May with such incivility when he consigned her to a room to await alone for his presence, and ensured a camera was there to capture the moment?

There is no question but that Donald Tusk is anything other than an ardent europhile. As unelected EU Council President from 2014 to 2019 he was the epitome of EU fanaticism. In that time he was of course the representative of the EU27 leaders during the negotiations with the then UK Government. Ironically this was a government led by a Remainer, presiding over a UK Parliament consisting mostly of Remainer MPs and Peers.

Interference in UK politics

Then a few months later in May 2019 Tusk urged Londoners to vote for the Change UK party in the EU Parliament elections. Readers will recall that Change UK was set up by disgruntled MPs campaigning for a second referendum, as they did not like nor accept the decision from the first one.

These MPs failed to stand down, preferring to stay in the House of Commons. At the end it was led by Anna Soubry. All 11 of them lost their seats in the 2019 general election.

Tusk’s interference in British politics apparently knew no bounds, despite being EU Council President.

In Part II tomorrow

In our second part tomorrow on the implications of the Polish elections for Brexit Britain, we will reveal how well Poland has done out of the UK since it joined the EU. We will show the one-sided trade between the two countries, as well as looking at the vast number of Polish people who have been able to make the UK their home.

Observations

Under Poland’s electoral system it was not enough for the ruling party to win – which they did. To form a government a party has to command more than 50% of the seats in the Lower House. The Law and Justice party will not be able to do this but Tusk looks able to do so.

Poland’s President will first ask the winning party if they can form a government, and they will have to say they cannot. He will then invite Donald Tusk to do so. All things being equal, this seems to be the inevitable outcome over the next two weeks.

Donald Tusk is a man who seems permanently amused by his own statements. This is not a quality which will endear him to many British people. Nevertheless this man looks highly likely to become Poland’s next Prime Minister.

Why did Tusk do well?

US President Bill Clinton once famously remarked “It’s the economy, Stupid.”

Not in Poland’s case. One of the key factors in this election (in a Catholic country) was the government’s strict abortion laws. Tusk has vowed to repeal or amend these significantly, which appears to have given him support amongst female and younger voters.

As with all elections there were of course other factors at play, but the economy does not appear to have been a major one. The caveat is that the EU has been withholding funds from Poland due to its dislike of the current government’s policies.

That said, the Polish economy has been performing well. No doubt this has been helped by the billions of pounds which the UK has given to Poland over the past 25 years – via the EU – and which has helped to turbo-charge Poland’s economic fortunes.

In Part II tomorrow we will reveal the extent of some of this support from the UK to Poland.

We must get reports like this out there

Reports like the one above take far longer to research, write and produce than many people realise. If they were easy, readers would see other organisations also producing these daily. However, there’s little point in the Facts4EU.Org team working long hours, seven days-a-week, if we lack the resources to promote them effectively – to the public, to MPs, and to the media. This is where you come in, dear reader.

Facts4EU.Org needs you today

We are a 'not for profit' team (we make a loss) and any payment goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.

We badly need more of our thousands of readers to become members, to support this work. Could this be you, today? It's quick and easy, we give you a choice of two highly secure payment providers, and we do NOT ask you for further support if you pay once. We just hope you keep supporting us. Your membership stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

Please don't assume that other people will keep us going - we don't receive enough to survive and we need your help today. Could you help us? We rely 100% on public contributions from readers like you.

If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please join now by clicking on one of the links below or you can use our Support page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 48 hours. Thank you.

[ Sources: Polish National Electoral Commission | Polish National Electoral Office | EU Council ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Tues 17 Oct 2023

Click here to go to our news headlines

Please scroll down to COMMENT on the above article.
And don't forget to actually post your message after you have previewed it!

Something to say about this? Scroll down for reader comments

Since before the EU Referendum, Brexit Facts4EU.Org
has been the most prolific researcher and publisher of Brexit facts in the world.

Supported by MPs, MEPs, & other groups, our work has impact.

We think facts matter. Please donate today, so that we can continue to ensure a clean Brexit is finally delivered.

Any credit card user

Quick One-off

From £5 - £1,000

Monthly

From £3 per month

Paypal Users Only - Choose amount first

Quick One-off

Monthly

PLEASE NOTE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT : You can write your comment under any existing comments below. After you have clicked to preview your comment, you MUST then click on the CAPTCHA system and send you comment, for it to be published. Thank you!

Reader Comments 6

1. terence patrick hewett , Tuesday, October 17, 2023, 06:51:

It will take months to resolve this: and anything can happen. PR is a crooks charter, so it suits the EU well. In the UK, FPTP has its disadvantages, but it usually only takes 24 hours to effect a power change - or 2 weeks at the most in the case of a tie. Donald Tusk is a particularly shady character: like so many EU funtionaries, he has a history of collaboration with communism. In Tusk's case, a shill for the East German Stasi. My guess, is it will eventually end in another election.

2. Ashley Great Britain , Tuesday, October 17, 2023, 06:54:

The Uk Gov should have stood up to people like Donald Tusk, We were however being guided by an astonishingly feeble and complicit group of parliamentarians and officials. This is the reason Brexit hasn't fully happened yet.
Tusk is the epitome of a British hater. There has been a great effort in the EU for decades to extract as much money as possible from the UK while sabotaging and undermining us. Uk officials have assisted that work. The way to conquer this non violent enemy is not to vote lib/lab/con.

3. jon iivesey , Tuesday, October 17, 2023, 17:50:

All we are watching here is how Empires work. In an Empire national politicians are always conflicted between the interests of their nation and the interests of the Empire. In the EU this is papered over to some extent by smooth operators who insist that the two interests are one, and Tusk is a professional at that. Apparently, this time around the Polish voters would prefer to be led by a pro-consul than by a rebel, and in Polish history, alternating between nationalism and obedience is a repeating pattern. Over the centuries the Poles have been for and against rule by Russia, for and against alliance with Germany, for and against the Warsaw Pact and for and against their own independence. The one constant in Polish history is that they refuse to make the domestic political compromises that would allow them to run their own country without foreign interference.

4. LuxuryBalloon , Tuesday, October 17, 2023, 19:19:

Poland seems highly politically polarised and weak … unlike the UK.

5. Harry Potter , Tuesday, October 17, 2023, 20:27:

4. LuxuryBalloon. Poland and the Polish are not daft. For years they have seen the dosh rolling in from the EU in the Billions they are not going to risk losing that, not until they have milked the EU dry. Watch what happens when they have finished using the EU. They will dump them like someone holding a hot spud.

6. LuxuryBalloon , Wednesday, October 18, 2023, 08:53:

5 Harry … by the time the younger Polish generations have been fully indoctrinated by the EU … it might be too late to win a Polexit referendum?

Add comment:

Please note: Your email address is never published unless you choose to enter it.