James Bartholomew:

In his election campaign, Donald Trump said he would “drain the swamp”. He meant that he wanted to remove lobbyists and corrupt practices from Washington. But now the phrase is used increasingly in Britain and it is about something related but different. It is about an elite which has taken control of public life.

This elite is not intentionally evil: its members consider themselves to be the most civilised, well-meaning and decent among us. As a generalisation, they are well educated and come from relatively prosperous backgrounds. They are Left-wing, “progressive” or, if Tories, of the One Nation sort. They think that, since they are supremely civilised, with an open, cooperative mindset, they must be in favour of EU membership.

The takeover of Parliament by this elite has been obvious. Three years ago, nearly all MPS stated that they would respect the result of the referendum. They have not done so. Why? Because they disagree with the result and are confident that their judgment is superior to that of ordinary people.

The reach of this elite extends into the House of Lords, where many are appointees of Tony Blair, David Cameron and Theresa May. But the patronage of these prime ministers has spread them everywhere: to quangos and agencies like the Electoral Commission, the Crown Prosecution Service and even the police. Oxford colleges are now headed by fully paid-up members such as Will Hutton, former Labour peers and former BBC executives. The BBC, of course, overflows with members of the new elite.

This takeover of power is profoundly damaging. It has decreased confidence that we live in a real democracy because of the disrespect that has been shown to the result of the referendum and

to Leave voters. It has also undermined trust in the fairness of our institutions. Decisions have been made that appear to be motivated by the views of this elite. The raid on the offices of the Brexit Party by the Electoral Commission just before the EU elections is one example. Discrimination against Right-wing or non-pc academics is another.

There was a time when it was considered proper that prime ministers and others down the patronage chain should appoint people who were suitably qualified and that they should come from a range of political views. This new elite has dropped those ideas, so confident is it of its moral and intellectual supremacy.

How then, should we bring an end to its dominance? It will not be easy because this elite exists wherever there is power and influence. The first step must be to vote them out of the Commons, regardless of which party they belong to. Next, reform of the Lords must finally take place. Say, 35 per cent of the members should be elected by PR.

The most fundamental change would be to make all politicians less important. Under our representative system, once MPS are elected, the public has no power over them. We should move to become a more direct democracy, like Switzerland, where all major decisions are taken by the public. A national vote takes place whenever a certain number of people sign a petition in favour of it. And the vote must be respected. Of course the new elite hates this idea – just as it hated the EU referendum – because real democracy denudes them of their power.

The old political parties are comfortable as they are. But distrust and anger are building up. Our own swamp will have to be drained. It is only a matter of when and how.