BY NEVILLE DE SILVA

It was a Hamletian moment but on a much larger canvass. If Hamlet was an individual confronted with doubts, the United Kingdom was a nation faced with a historic and life changing decision. To go or not to go, that was the question. It was the question that faced the British voters as they headed for the polling centres on Thursday to make that vital decision at a referendum, the second referendum connected with European membership since the one held 41 years ago.

By a decisive 51.9 per cent of the vote of a high turn-out of 72 per cent, the British people voted to leave the European Union. The decision has not only shocked the British political establishment and the ruling elite but also sent shock waves round the 28-member organization that is bracing itself against the rise of populist nationalism in Europe, calling for a reform of the bureaucrat-ridden EU.

As the results began to come and the leave campaign gradually gained momentum as Thursday night turned to Friday morning, the UK suffered its first fatality of this essentially democratic move. Prime Minister David Cameron fell on his sword.

Almost immediately the result became clear David Cameron announced that he will be stepping down from the premiership by October when the Conservative Party will be holding its annual conference and giving time for those aspiring to succeed him to throw their hats into the ring for the leadership contest.

It was a gesture in the best traditions of parliamentary democracy, a lesson that Sri Lankan politicians could learn but would rather prefer to maintain their tone-deaf arrogance. In Sri Lanka, which only some days ago sent emissaries to London to lobby persons of Sri Lankan origin to try and save Cameron’s bacon by voting to remain in the EU such political niceties are as far away from the conduct of our politicians as Socrates from a swine herd. It would take some physical power to drag our reluctant politicians from their seats of power and influence that often clear the way for corruption and abuse.

But it seems that it is not only Cameron who would be on his way out. By late Friday morning a motion of no-confidence against Labour Party and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn was on the cards.

If Cameron decided to commit hara kiri, Corbyn like Julius Caesar is being prepared for knife-wielding members of his own party to perform the last rites on his short-lived leadership, all done in the democratic tradition of course.

So this referendum has turned British politics on its head. It is surely the first time in living memory that both the prime minister and the opposition leader are in for the chop in response to the voice of public opinion.

This referendum is historic not merely because the UK has voted to exit the EU but also because it has kicked the British ruling class and reminded it to listen attentively to the voice and the needs of its people.

It is indeed a pity that our law makers were not around to listen to the measured, sober, and calming statements that were made by David Cameron and later by Conservative Party front runners of the “leave” campaign such as Justice Minister Michael Gove and former London Mayor and MP Boris Johnson who expressed sadness at Cameron’s decision to resign.

They were among 84 Conservative MPs who had written to Cameron urging him to remain as Prime Minister in the event the people voted to leave. On Friday morning Johnson and Gove paid tribute to Cameron for providing leadership and for the steps taken to restore confidence in the British economy.

The civilized manner in which leaders of the Conservative Party but on either side of the referendum divide acted in the post-referendum hours would surely be a valuable learning curve for those in the frontline of Sri Lankan politics or aspiring to get there, if only they were willing to learn.

These divisions that became ferocious during the campaign were not settled by fisticuffs in the Well of the Parliamentary chamber or its environs but in the best traditions of democratic practice and civilized conduct.

That the vote brought to the fore the divisions in British society and the chasm that exists between the political establishment and the ruling elite on the one hand and public opinion on the other cannot be papered over easily.

It is a hard fact that the country is badly divided. It was London, Scotland