Just in

Just another day at the office …

Yesterday at midday, feeling that I ought to do so on such a momentous day, I deliberately tuned in to the BBC’s Daily Politics programme to watch Prime Minister’s Question Time and then Mrs May’s statement to the Commons on the day that she triggered Brexit by sending a six-page letter to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council invoking the infamous Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

MayMy lunchtime impressions of the Parliamentary fare were that Mrs May had done pretty well and that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn scored about average for him (4 out of 10). Corbyn’s trouble is that he’s a throwback to the heyday of Labour loony left, a 45 mph vinyl record that remains stuck championing the cause of downtrodden over-exploited workers, the sick, the disabled and the vulnerable when all the time the onlooking electorate are desperately seeking some sign – any sign – that Labour would be worthy of their vote by providing a credible alternative set of policies and Prime Minister to those of the incumbent Tories in the national interest. And never getting one.

[I must declare my usual interest here, given my prime motive for voting Leave – and indeed my online petition to get the rest of the UK a referendum on whether or not to throw Scotland out of the Union which is now nearing the 100,000 signature mark – was to give Nicola Sturgeon what she wants].

RobertsonWithout a doubt the best bit of the show, whether set up by Mrs May or not, was her baiting of Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, specifically after he’d been spluttering on (amidst jeers from all sides) both about her breaking her alleged commitment to obtain agreement with the constituent parts of the UK before triggering Article 50 and the fact that Scotland had voted to Remain, when she got up and told him that, as it had happened, her own constituency of Maidenhead had also voted to Remain … “But the country as a whole had voted to Leave, that’s democracy”.

Much later, at 7.00pm, I also tuned in to BBC1 in order to watch Andrew Neil interview Mrs May, again because I thought I ought to. I only managed to last until 7.18pm because Mrs May, who was attempting to do her best impression of Mrs Thatcher-lite in order to bore Mr Neil and the nation to death, had succeeded with this viewer. Whatever her merits as a politician, there’s no escaping the fact that at any drinks party she’s the kind of individual that anyone with an ounce of zest for life and fun in them would most fear getting trapped in a corner with.

What is interesting so far about the mayhem surrounding the triggering of Article 50 is how the Political Elite, with its condescending lip service to democracy (which I shall hereafter always refer to as ‘LSTD’), has ignored two supplementary reasons behind the Leave vote in last years’ EU Referendum.

The first, of course, was the voting public’s desire to stick two fingers up to the Political Elite – for which the Referendum was a perfect opportunity.

The second was the EU’s lack of accountability.

BureaucratsWhat Lord Heseltine, Tim Farron, Nick Clegg and Paddy Ashdown (there’s a lot of Lib-Dems in here suddenly) fail to appreciate is that most Brits harbour a suspicion and distrust of the EU because its politburo-style leaders are just not interested in what ordinary members of the electorate think or want.

To the electorate, the EU ‘project’ just wishes to go on its merry way towards a dictatorial federal state in which we’re expected to keep quiet and not only accept what we’re given but be grateful for it.

The Political Elite, whether at Westminster and/or in Brussels, just wants to be able to get on with exercising power without responsibility, all the while citing the interests of democracy as its motivating factor when we know it doesn’t really mean it [cue reference to LSTD].

Furthermore, the above-mentioned British Political Elite now spouting off to anyone who will let them are effectively admitting that they’d rather be ruled by Brussels than by the British electorate.

In fact, the bottom line is, what the Bremoaners are really saying is “Bugger democracy, we actually know what’s best for the nation and – however you vote – we want to get back to running things as we always have”.

To make my point, let’s just flip things around a little.

In a parallel universe, let’s say that Remain had won the EU Referendum (52% to 48%) last June, instead of the other way around.

Leavers3Does anyone honestly think that, if the 48% who had voted Leave had since been filling the airwaves with protest, mounting public demonstrations attended by 10,000 plus attacking the Referendum decision, or had even been asking for special democratic consideration because the result had been so close, the Political Elite (and the 52% who had voted to Remain) would have done anything but respond “Piss off, you lost the Referendum so grow up and accept the result!”

Referendum2It’s difficult to escape the conclusion that the Political Elite shot itself in the foot big-time – and possibly permanently – by deciding to have a Referendum at all.

I’d lay a penny to a pound that, with hindsight, if it could have had its time again, the House of Commons would never vote to hold a EU Referendum.

But it did do so. As we all know, every action (and indeed non-action) has its consequences. The only reason the Political Elite held a EU Referendum was because of its mistaken conviction that the answer would be Remain.

It’s ironic that those most pro-EU (like Mr Clegg) failed to take on board one of the most basic lessons to be learned from the EU Project experience, i.e. wherever possible prevent member nations holding referenda.

Why? Well, firstly because you might not like the answer.

And secondly, because when and if you ever get the ‘wrong’ answer, to keep the EU on track, you (the EU) have to go through all the bad PR and derision that follows your inevitable stock response of sending the nation concerned back to hold another referendum … if necessary, again and again … until eventually it achieves the ‘right’ answer, i.e. the one that allows the EU to keep doing what it wants.

Avatar photo
About Simon Campion-Brown

A former lecturer in politics at Keele University, Simon now lives in Oxfordshire. Married with two children, in 2007 he decided to monitor the Westminster village via newspaper and television and has never looked back. More Posts