One of the Conservative Party Vice Chairs resigned the other day over the Chequers agreement and she has now written an article for The Telegraph (HERE) claiming that Downing Street is run by a "small cabal" of remainers who hold Brexiteers in contempt. She thinks the white paper will be "catastrophically bad" and "a disaster for the Conservative party". It's good to see she is thinking about the party at a moment of national turmoil for which the Tories are solely responsible.
An article in The Spectator (HERE) is along the same lines and claims the mess we find ourselves in is "what happens when you put Brexit in the hands of unbelievers". The writer says,
"Brexit is but one of many challenges and opportunities and the problem is the mismatch between those who voted leave and won, and those who lost but still control how we leave, while mostly thinking Brexit is a terrible idea".
Inadvertently, the article sets out the truth of Brexit doesn't it?
There is no rational or logical argument in favour of Brexit. It's an article of faith. To advocate it you simply have to "believe" in Brexit. Don't worry about the facts, just keep believing. Anyone who points out the myriad problems is dismissed as a scaremonger or now, as we see, an unbeliever. This is an interesting choice of word since it's the one used by fundamentalist Muslims like the Taliban and other groups to describe their non-Muslim opponents. Let's recall that these groups have made the middle east a byword for peaceful, enlightened social progress - or not. It's also used by those who believe in creationism, that the world was literally made by God about 5,000 years ago. Forget the evidence, look at what The Bible says.
I assume Brexiteers have in mind a future something like Lebanon in the 1970s or Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and The Yemen more recently. Or perhaps Iran could be a model for us? After all, the leaders from Ayatollah Khamenei down, all believe they are creating a sort of earthly paradise and it's only the unbelievers who don't seem to want it.
If Jacob Rees-Mogg becomes leader, this will be our dystopian future. A nation ruled by hard line "believers" determined to see their Brexit vision, forced on a people who were originally in favour of it, largely because they "believed" it would be good for them but were quickly disillusioned. Unfortunately, it was too late to change. The Brexiteers brooked no opposition. The land of milk and honey may fade into the distance or even disappear altogether - but keep on believing that Utopia is just around the next corner and we will arrive eventually. Any hardship is a price worth paying.
Anyone who lived in Russian in 1918 or Germany in the 1930s might recognise what's happening.
