How Odd

Joseph Harker understands.

So why is it that, almost by the day, I grow more and more sympathetic to the people who voted leave? Not to the Boris Johnsons and Jacob Rees-Moggs, of course, nor to the middle-class little-Englanders across the Tory shires – nor either to the thuggish nationalist bigots of the far right: but to the millions of ordinary working-class voters who saw leaving the EU as a way to improve their lives and finally have their voices heard.

Remember that brief moment after the referendum, when commentators started acknowledging the “left behind”, admitting that they’d been ignored for far too long? The swaths of the country beyond the M25 where industries had been lost, where communities had been torn apart, and where the idea of prosperity was a long-forgotten dream.

What happened? Before long the Westminster village reverted to type, and began obsessing about political plots, obscure article wording, and parliamentary procedures. All the talk switched to meaningful votes – yet in vast stretches of the UK, what they want is meaningful lives.

He has a point here. The meme that those who voted to leave were merely racist xenophobes who were too stupid to be allowed a vote – or are all old fogeys who are betraying the young persist. The idea that we deplore a bureaucratic organisation that is blatantly anti-democratic seems not to have been heard, let alone taken into account, for they ain’t listening. But Harker does appear to get it. Indeed, Harker admits the flaws in the EU himself:

Despite my doubts about the European Union as an institution (its remoteness, lack of democracy, and inflexibility in dealing with crises such as the eurozone debt)…

All of which are a reason to vote to leave.

Usually, I find myself deploring Harker’s invariable diet of racism and blaming whitey for all the world’s ills, so it’s nice for once to agree. However, despite him going of the reservation, the nonsense continues.

A cabinet minister has been accused of engaging in “gutter politics” after warning MPs that blocking Brexit could trigger a surge of far-right extremism.

Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, said that reversing the decision to leave the European Union would “open the door” to “extremist” populist political forces and lead to divisions not seen since the English Civil War.

Far right is simply a label used by the political establishment to tar anyone who has the effrontery to disagree with them.

6 Comments

  1. He is right though. There are many like me awaiting the outcome of Brexit to make my decision on whether we are a democratic country or not and if not, I’d do what I can to bring it down. Legally of course. 🙂

  2. The suggestion that the government might be about to renege on its commitment to abide by the result of the referendum is causing me a great deal of concern. I’m wondering if there will be an orgy of violence against the establishment and whether a normally law abiding person such as I will feel duty bound to join in. More frightening to me is that nothing happens and the British public just allow them to get away with it. Still, I suppose it will make the next election more interesting.

  3. “A cabinet minister has been accused of engaging in “gutter politics” after warning MPs that blocking Brexit could trigger a surge of far-right extremism.”

    Far right extremism? Maybe extreme democrats would be a better description. How about labelling those who want to stop Brexit as anti-democratic extremists? Wouldn’t that be more accurate?

    • Reverend Simon Sideways explains it very well in this video:

      Suffice to say, we are not extremists – right or otherwise. It’s just that the overton window has slipped leftwards.

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