A rethink on Brexit
Empire-building bureaucracy that is the EU must cut the Brits some slack
Boris Johnson seems to be settling into his new job reasonably well. He cut an interesting figure at the G7 meeting in France, looking a lot more comfortable among the world’s political leaders than had his predecessor Theresa May — who so often had the haunted expression of someone who expects a rug to be pulled out from under her at any minute. Perhaps it helps to be large, white and male with a studiously dishevelled mop of hair.
Not only did Johnson manage to make the morose EU president, Donald Tusk, smile but he succeeded in not seeming too chummy with US President Donald Trump. All in all, a well-balanced affair.
But it is very early days. At this stage in her reign May also looked confident. She had a larger majority in parliament and led a Conservative Party that had not yet torn itself apart.
Of course, the whole Brexit issue is bizarre. The idea of forcing a reluctant partner to remain in a partnership is not just antidemocratic, it is borderline mafia-like. It may be that David Cameron’s decision to hold a referendum was reckless, but forcing a repeat would set a devastating precedent.
Brussels did force the Irish to replay their referendums each time they didn’t get it “quite right”. But Ireland, which relies on the goodwill of its EU partners to continue depriving countries across the globe of their rightful tax catch, is pretty much a satellite state of Brussels. The Brits mightn’t be so accommodating, no matter how it is dressed up. In 2016 17.4-million of them voted to leave. That’s 52% of the 72.2% who turned out to vote, the highest voter turnout in the UK since the 1992 general
election; it is far more than voted for Maggie Thatcher in 1979 or Tony Blair in 1997.
The margin of victory might look slight to the “remainers”, but it was a bigger margin than in nine of the 20 postwar general elections. And how patronising is the idea that a chunk of the 17.4-million Brexit voters were swayed by Russian trolls while every one of the “remainers” were independent thinkers? The British rich largely voted against Brexit but the “leave” side won in all other income groups. Those under 35 were also predominantly pro-remain but there was little difference for groups above 35.
The public, in Britain and across the globe, has been poorly served by the media on this issue. It paints a picture of a racist little Englander mentality determined to cut itself off from the rest of the world. This is despite the fact that Johnson — and May before him — has seemed determined to develop trade ties across the globe, including Europe. The UK’S EU partners enjoy a trade surplus with the
UK. Does anybody think they will easily abandon this on November 1?
The fact is the EU represents mission creep of gargantuan proportions. It started in 1950 as an agreement between France and Germany to operate their coal and steel industries under unified supervision in a commendable bid to ensure war between the two countries would be both unthinkable and impossible.
After 60 years of political panelbeating, the EU has become a hugely powerful and well-resourced empirebuilding bureaucracy seemingly determined to ignore the hundreds of years of history that went into creating its component parts. It needs to pause and work on its democratic deficit and cut the Brits some slack.
The public, in Britain and across the globe, has been poorly served by the media on the issue of Brexit