Ever since Britain’s disastrous decision in 2016 to leave the EU, the country has been divided like never before. That’s what happens when you decide to put to a simple vote something incredibly complex, like Brexit. We’re not just divided about whether we should leave the EU, we’re also divided by the type of Brexit we should inflict on ourselves and how much worse off we want to be. There was one issue that stood head and shoulders above everything else and that was the one about freedom of movement.
For many, the decision to leave the EU was made to stop EU citizens coming to live and work in the UK. They believed that in order to stop Johnny Foreigner coming over, free movement should end. And so it came to pass that in a supreme effort of self-harm, we decided to end free movement. Once the vote had taken place, it was apparent that everything we warned about would come true, that our own children would not be able too enjoy the same rights to live, love, study, work and travel freely across Europe. People who voted to leave Europe don’t like to be reminded that they took away opportunities from their own children, but that’s exactly what they did. But the sheer hypocrisy of the leaders of the leave campaign takes some beating.
The leave poster boy Nigel Farage now says he will move abroad if Brexit goes tits up. Better still, chief Brexiteer Lord Nigel Lawson – what is it about these right wing people called Nigel? – is now seeking official residency in France, where he has lived for many years, in order to protect his rights to…er…live, love, study, work and travel freely across Europe. Now, think about that one for a moment: a seriously rich campaigner for Britain to leave Europe gets what he wants and ends freedom of movement for the majority of Brits, but not for him. You could not make it up. If you were beginning to think you may have been had by the liars and chancers of the leave campaign, you were right. This is hypocrisy on stilts.
I am not just angry about Nigel Lawson: I am angry about the Labour Party’s lack of response to Lawson-gate. Why the hell is Labour virtually silent? Why isn’t the Absolute Boy Jeremy Corbyn exposing this scandal? Or Emily Thornberry? Or any number of Corbyn’s front bench? Why? Two reasons. One, that they are mind-bogglingly incompetent and two that they want the same kind of Brexit as Nigel Farage. A Labour Party that really wanted to represent the very people the party was set up to represent would expose the leavers for the liars that they are. They would expose the con that was perpetrated on the electorate. They would slaughter Lawson and Farage for wrecking the country but sorting themselves out first. But instead, Corbyn and a handful of his cult following are preparing for a Jez love-in pop festival, featuring the Magic Numbers and Jez himself performing some old favourites from the 1970s. Better still, Corbyn’s mate, Red Len McCuskey’s UNITE union has bought up £36k worth of tickets to give away to the old boy’s fan club. You couldn’t make it up.
If we are to limit the damage, we must seek a soft Brexit, preserve single market membership and the customs union. If we are going to undo the damage, we are going to have to come clean with the public and tell them that Brexit must be reversed before it really tears this country apart altogether.
Meanwhile, in France, Nigel Lawson watches the sun go down in his adopted country, enjoying all the benefits our children will never enjoy. This, dear friends, is Brexit, brought to you by the illiberal elite who, as ever, tell you to do as I say and not as I do.
