In the wake of the Brexit vote, a particular trope has emerged amongst some journalists and members of the public on social media: that the vote to leave the EU was a “bloody nose” to Westminster and London. I have no doubt that many voters meant it this way – the reality of what will happen […]
Archives for June 2016
This is what I think the Tories will do next in the Brexit saga – and its consequences
Before the EU referendum, I predicted that if the country voted Leave, the Tories would do one of two things. Either take us out of the single market and try and remodel the country as a low tax, small state neocon paradise; or they would curl up into a foetal position and beg for mummy. […]
Britain, post-Brexit, reminds me of the worst of America
I travelled extensively across America when I was younger, taking in a total of 35 different states. It is an odd place in many respects, and there are things about it I really like and things about the place I’m not so fond of. One of the more alarming elements of American culture is the […]
Could this Labour MP save the country?
The country is in a mess at present – only the most passionate Leave oriented folk will deny that; even most of them concede it. Everyone is looking to what happens next. Some clues are given in what is possibly the most extraordinary newspaper article ever written by a major political figure in British history. […]
I really don’t see how Scotland remains in the Union now
It’s been repeated ad nauseam since Friday morning – and the phrase “a week is a long time in politics” has never seemed so apt as this week – but worth repeating again: Scotland voted 62-38 to remain in the EU, while England voted 55-45 to leave. That’s a gaping 17 point difference. Back in […]
It’s not all his fault – but Jeremy Corbyn needs to go, right now
In the wake of Brexit and Cameron’s resignation as prime minister, there have been calls from inside of the Labour Party, particularly the PLP, to challenge Corbyn’s leadership. It is worth trying to look at this as rationally as possible. In many ways, blaming Corbyn for Brexit is unfair. It wasn’t his idea to have […]
The United Kingdom has voted to Leave the EU. Now what?
I can only hope it doesn’t go as badly from here as it looks like it will from I’m standing right now. Up until the final moment, the mood in Westminster was very much that Remain were certain to win. You saw it in Farage’s resignation, in Boris’ body language. The polls had bounced back […]
If Remain wins today, we need to do a lot better from here on in
It is easy to look at the Leave campaign as an ardent Remainer and see nothing but bile. The Turkish ploy was deeply cynical, for instance. But one cannot look at the polls being neck in neck and dismiss almost 50% of the voting public (if we on the Remain side are lucky today, anyhow) […]
One day before the EU referendum: final thoughts
So here we are. After what feels like years of campaigning, the polling stations will open less than 24 hours from now on what will be one of the most momentous decisions the country has ever undertaken. At present I feel a bit like someone who has been told he might have cancer, but the […]
If Leave wins on Thursday, could there be a Tory-UKIP rapprochement?
Several years ago at a particular Tory conference, I organised an event around whether the Coalition was a good or a bad thing from a strictly Conservative perspective (incidentally, I think history has conclusively come down on the “good thing” side of that argument). I asked Peter Bone whether he felt closer to David Cameron […]