Maguire says: "No Brexit champion, particularly Nigel Farage, is worthy of high office after proving so conclusively wrong on such a seismic issue."
It is indeed the defining issue of our time, and not only was Farage wrong on it, he was the driving force behind it! Almost his entire adult life has been dedicated to it.
The comments below Maguire's piece are split (as is the Mirror’s readership). Many Brexit supporters think it’s still too early to say if Brexit has been a success or not, or blame the ‘soft’ Tories or the ‘remain establishment’ for the problems that we’re experiencing. None, as far as I could see, claims Brexit has been good for this country, which says a lot, nine years after the referendum, nearly five of them outside the EU.
This is a typical response:
It was all the fault of the "liberal, lefty, woke, globalist, europhile Tories" and, presumably, Boris Johnson as this person claims. He touchingly still puts all his faith in Farage, who he seems to think will be PM 'next year':.
Which brings me to the point I made on Sunday about the central lie at the heart of Brexit. How many of its advocates during the campaign said leaving would be easy? All difficult issues were swept aside and problems were minimised or dismissed altogether. The Northern Ireland Secretary at the time, Theresa Villiers, even said the existing border arrangements between NI and Ireland would continue much as they are if the UK left the EU. How wrong could you be?
Since 23 June 2016, Britain has had six prime ministers and Lord knows how many cabinet ministers from both parties with responsibility for the economy, trade, foreign affairs, business, the environment and relations with Europe. It must be dozens, and all of them apparently either secret remainers, totally incompetent or both.
Parliament made itself a laughing stock by being unable to reach a consensus among 650 elected representatives, supposedly the best and brightest in the country. Some wanted to remain in the single market while others were intent on a no-deal Brexit. Some thought the process would be quick and easy. Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party, wanted to issue the Article 50 letter the day after the referendum! Imagine that ticking time bomb!
For three years, Mrs May struggled to find a sweet spot and couldn’t. The impasse was broken only by a man unable to tell the truth, who forced through a disastrous Brexit. At first, he was cheered on by the project's avid, if totally ignorant, supporters. But he is now criticised for giving in to Brussels by the same people. They didn't know what they wanted then, and they don't know now. All they do know is that they haven't got it, whatever 'it' looks like.
So, goes the thinking in the mind of the diehard Brexiteer: we need Nigel Farage to rescue Brexit, he’s the only man in England capable of making it a success. He will deliver what we want, whatever it is.
This level of delusion is really something. To believe Farage is Brexit's erstwhile saviour, you must accept firstly that there is some possible world in which Brexit can be successful, although so far all the intellectual firepower Britain can muster has been unable to find it. Secondly, that someone, somewhere (Farage apparently), is actually capable of articulating what that world looks like.
Next, that the new Brexit world, once defined, would be acceptable to a majority of people in this country and that the EU are willing to renegotiate whatever it is we think is needed to make a success of it
And finally, to believe that such a perfect deal, once in place, would be acceptable to all future British citizens and governments forever and that Britain and the EU wouldn't introduce laws and regulations that are different and which fundamentally change the dynamic.
I would suggest finding that 'Goldilocks' deal is impossible. We are either in or out of the EU, and we must live with the consequences and trade offs, whatever they are.
Imagine for a moment if all the conceivable (and even inconceivable) arrangements with Brussels were set out as a continuum between full membership and no deal. Then imagine that by consultation with colleagues, the populace at large and the captains of industry, you were able to reach a consensus, carefully defining and calibrating that perfect point, to balance sovereignty and independence against trade, prosperity, convenience and security. I think there is probably less than 1% chance of finding an agreement acceptable to a bare majority, much less all.
You would then need Brussels to accept whatever it was you had come up with. And since we are well-known in European circles for wanting to cherry-pick as well as having our cake and eating it, I wouldn't underestimate the difficulties here.
Nevertheless, what these people think is that Nigel Farage, a man who has never actually negotiated an intergovernmental agreement or organised anything of note, is the man to do all that. The idea that the utterly divisive and wholly inexperienced Farage can somehow drag success out of the ashes of Brexit is risible at best. The performance up to now of Reform-controlled councils up and down the country is a living monument to incompetence. Yet nothing seems to deter Farage's admirers.
What we do know about Farage is that he can’t get on with people and storms off when things don’t suit him. No, if he ever does get into Downing Street, he and Brexit will be finished for good within a year, and we can then start to figure out how to recover from it all.
There will be nobody left for Brexit voters to call on.
