We lost. It is too early and raw for a postmortem. We now have to move on. I have been wrong in the past and I am sure I will be wrong in the future. I fervently hope I am wrong this time and that Brexit will not involve an acceleration of the decline of the UK, or a kick in the teeth for those who voted for it. The signs however are not good.
There has been a distinct shift in the rhetoric of late from the leading Brexiteers. The sunlit uplands of freedom to negotiate trade deals with queues of states around the world has faded. Liam Fox says we should not be obsessing about Free Trade Agreements. Mr Gove accepts that things will be “bumpy” but the real benefit of Brexit will be that we have taken back control, politicians, like him, will have no EU bureaucracy to blame for things. We need to remember that.
However, the ground is already being laid for blaming those unscrupulous Europeans for any pain that may come out of the negotiations over the next 11 months. They will be acting out of fear, ignorance, stupidity, bureaucratic arrogance,… being foreign! If we cannot retain the benefits of membership without the responsibilities where’s the fairness in that?
Democracy has provided PM Johnson with a large majority. A lot of those unprincipled MP’s who would not vote for something they felt would damage the interests of their constituents have been replaced by their constituents with those who swore an oath of loyalty to “get Brexit done’.
To be absolutely clear we should not blame democracy. Democracy is not a guarantee of good government it is an insurance against tyranny.
The country has voted to take back control. We now need to keep a close eye on where it has been taken to and what is done with it. We will be watching Mr Gove, and, as he says, the EU no longer provides a convenient hiding place.