For once I’m going to go against my own better judgement and make some impetuous observations.
I didn’t stay up all night, but I did peep a couple of times. Or three.
I think the pollsters have a lot to answer for, as well as the media. Will we never learn to ignore them? The certainty that Remain would prevail undoubtedly encouraged some extra Leave votes from the uncertains or the undecideds, whose Leave votes were in fact intended as protest votes.
All the guests in Victoria Derbyshire’s Manchester studio this morning looked crestfallen, even the Leave voters. I think everyone was taken by surprise, and I think the disappointment was pretty predictable - a mixture of anti-climax and apprehension. I didn’t watch it all, but from the parts I did see I thought guests spoke generously and perceptively, although I do think Victoria herself was unable to conceal her disappointment at (and disapproval of) the outcome.
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| Victoria's guests - generous and perceptive |
I wish David Cameron had waited a while before resigning. I really think he should have waited. Some of ‘the people’ who have ‘spoken’ quite rightly feel abandoned.
As soon as I saw Samantha coming along beside him (why the long face?) I knew he was going to do it.
The main thing his resignation says to me at this moment (I may change my mind later) is that MPs are unreliable. I understood the PM had tried to reassure us that he would stay and fight, either way.
All those people (I think) including Michael Fallon and Chris Grayling who are now telling us he could do no other than resign should have spoken up before.
They should have explicitly said "if Remain loses, David Cameron has to resign" rather than writing letters begging him to stay on if we vote for Brexit.
Now he has both resigned and postponed the implementation of negotiations for Brexit in accord with article 50, leaving a vacuum in which various panic measures - such as last-minute surges of would-be immigrants - not to mention unnecessarily prolonging uncertainty, which will probably bring more economic / financial turbulence / volatility and sour things still further.
David Cameron showed us how inflexible the EU is by the paucity of the reforms he was able to obtain for us despite his best efforts. I did notice that the word ‘reformed” was not included in his resignation speech.
The first half of his speech was generous and reassuring, but I’m sorry to say that his resignation almost seemed like petulance disguised as self-sacrifice.
Ask me tomorrow, and I might have changed my mind.
Cameron's number is up, everyone knew it would be. He can be petulant if he wants, it will only damage his legacy. He was on the wrong side of history, and he's right to stand down.
ReplyDeleteI'm fairly certain that all those except Gove and Boris who have been insisting that Cameron must stay on for the sake of stability and all that - politicians and journalists alike - were lying through their teeth because they were afraid that people would vote Leave just to get rid of Cameron.
Gove and Boris were lying for appearances sake, because saying Cameron would have to go would just stir up more leadership challenge / Tory Splits! noise, which is the last thing the Leave campaign needed.
In short, everyone was lying about Cameron staying on because they felt lying about it suited their side's chances.
You are absolutely right - the Tory party has always disliked, and been inclined to punish, 'unseemly' displays of disunity. I wouldn't mind betting that Cameron had a call from 1922 Committee grandees last night, laying down the ground rules for his departure & the way in which Boris & Gove would behave.
ReplyDeleteAs I watch another unseemly spectacle: the BBC, not just pouring scorn on Leave's victory, but also encouraging young Remainers to feel they were robbed, I cannot help feeling that the BBC no longer understands what impartiality is; and I am old enough to remember that there was once a time when they did.
Yep BBC are a disgrace. Even the sports commentators going on about how disappointed people must feel!
ReplyDeleteAs for Cameron - remember he solemnly promised to stay on and lead us out of the EU if we voted to Leave...so that was just ANOTHER lying promise he never meant to keep.
People need to realise he is a compulsive liar, probably the worst liar ever to hold high office in the UK. He didn't need to pretend he opposed Turkey's speedy accession did he? But he did, even though the public record showed he was lying. He didn't need to pretend he wasn't involved in the framing of President Obama's threat but he did - that too will be shown to be a lie.
Cameron is a serial liar. This is the man that gave a 'cast-iron' guarantee of a referendum on 'Lisbon'. This is the man that told Turkey he wanted them in the EU and us that it would never happen. This is the man that 'vetoed' the EU budget increase which went through as planned. This is the man that refused to pay the 'prostitution' GDP EU contribution top-up but then paid it. This is the man who would campaign to 'leave' if he didn't get a good deal; he got no deal and gave away our 'ever closer union' veto and then campaigned for 'remain'. This is the man who stood alongside the US president, smirking, as he ran the UK down. This is a man who kept talking Britain down during the campaign and now hopes the rest of the world will see it as lies.
ReplyDeleteFrankly I won't believe he is gone until he is locked up alongside his role model Blair.
Our public servants had better re-learn how to do their jobs pretty damn quick because time is of the essence. Much as I dislike and distrust Mr Johnson, in the interim I think it's more important for someone to provide leadership of the Leave process, construct a credible team and issue formal notice to the EU that we are invoking Article 50. In that way, the opportunity for the Remainiacs to muddy the waters is minimised. The longer we wait to put out exit on a formal basis, the greater the possibility that the euphiles will stage a counter attack, with the bbc being used as their propaganda weapon.
ReplyDeleteSturgeon/Corbyn/Juncker. The BBC is wall-to-wall doom-mongering this morning. I haven't heard a single positive Leave voice- are they all still in bed nursing a hangover? If so, someone needs to wake them up & get them in front of a microphone quickly cos they are allowing others to create the narrative
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