The Illiberal Elite

The tide turned against those of us who believe in the European Union some time ago. Those of us, like me, who could, reluctantly, have lived with a soft Brexit, a sort of Norway +, and those who wanted a further referendum have been worn down, worn down by the illiberal elite, the rich and powerful and, yes, the establishment. We won the odd battle along the way, but the war is nearing an end.

The slogans, the cynical rhetoric from Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson have been if not embraced, then reluctantly accepted by a weary people. Cummings’ “Get Brexit done” resonated with people who have had enough of it. Any deal will do.

I no longer have any stomach for any kind of fight. Although I haven’t lost any real friends, the same could not be said for social media friends. I regret that and yet I don’t. I consider myself to be a liberal with a small ‘l’. When I vote, I vote for the person and the party who I believe will help bring about a fairer more equal society. I vote far more for my children, and the children of others, than I do for myself. I believe we achieve far more collectively than we do as individuals. I have found it hard to understand why decent, family-loving people continue to support such a damaging rupture with Europe that will, undeniably, damage the future of our young. How people I thought of as small ‘l’ liberals could support full on English nationalism, I do not understand. But they have and we are approaching the end game of our time at the heart of Europe.

Boris Johnson has come to power as the country is on its knees with Brexit fatigue. He promises closure on Brexit when he knows that this is just the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end.

We will move on, all right. In a month or so, the country will elect Johnson with, I suspect, a landslide victory at a general election, with Labour being obliterated. Then, a bonfire of workers rights and environmental standards will begin, the move to a low tax, small state, deregulated economy and a tax haven for the filthy rich. And most of us are so utterly burnt out with the whole damn thing, we have no strength left to resist.

Yes, the war is nearly over and almost everyone will have lost. Johnson will never be able to unite a country that he has wilfully divided and torn apart. Perhaps one day, we will all realise how we were hoodwinked, conned and lied to by the illiberal elite. When Johnson marches back into Downing Street, as the man who finally delivered Brexit, just remember who led it.