IT was barely 24 hours before the 17 million Britons who had voted to exit the European Union began to have second thoughts. Prime Minister David Cameron rose to the occasion. Having called for the referendum, partly to quiet the dissension in the Conservative Party and obtain national clarity, he knew the implications of failure. It was appropriate he fell on his sword. He did not wait to be reminded or to be pushed like his Labour counterpart. He did not claim his resignation was his own sacrifice, as a former Nigerian president once claimed, after he had put the country through an eight-year transition programme. No, Cameron just did the right thing at the right time. It was a classic political performance.
The so-called Brexiteers are wringing their hands, unsure of how to proceed, apparently, like most people, they never imagined they would get their wish. The old saying was apt, ‘be careful what you wish, for you may get it.’ By Tuesday evening thousands of Britons were demonstrating in Westminster saying how much they loved Europe, how dearly they wanted to remain Europeans and why they never wanted to exit. Alas, it sounded like closing the stable after the horse had gone as they chanted “Shame on You” to Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson. Another crowd, an even bigger number, which at last count was close to four million, had signed a petition urging the House of Commons to reopen the case by holding another debate.
Everyone watched as network correspondents tried to press politicians for a way out. There was none. It was a referendum, near impossible to reverse. The Scots were distraught. So were the Northern Ireland folks, as were Londoners. Gibraltar was in a different class, being the one British territory located in continental Europe. Those four British territories had voted for Britain to stay in Europe. The representative of Scotland in the European Parliament received a tumultuous applause when he urged Europe not to forget that Scotland had overwhelmingly voted to be in Europe. Scotland did not want to be part of “Little” Britain.
The biggest shock was the absence of any exit plan. It gave rise to the supposition that the campaigners did not believe they would win the argument, especially so when they reversed some of the promises they had made including the weekly return of 305 million pounds to the National Health Service. Indeed from all appearances, the “Leave” campaign seems to have unraveled after its victory, and many Britons now accept they have been misled and had voted on promises that have turned out to be lies.
Prime Minister Cameron had announced that Britain would need a new leadership to pilot it out of Europe. But no one, not even Boris Johnson, former Mayor of London, the arrowhead of the “Leave” campaign, was anxious to mount the saddle. Indeed, it appeared Boris Johnson went underground. All the ambitious Tory leaders — nine of them were counted — remained at the background but are expected to announce their candidacy, a process which ends today. The two front runners remain Home Secretary Theresa May and Boris Johnson. Mr. Johnson may have led the debate to leave Europe but it would appear the Tories would most likely hand over the premiership to a less boisterous but nonetheless experienced steady hand who voted for “IN” but has handled important issues such as security and immigration and is known to pursue a tough line on those issues and might be the second woman in British history to be premier, after Mrs. Thatcher.
The one person who seems to be having fun out of Brexit is Mr. Nigel Farage, the leader of the United Kingdom Independent Party who taunted the European Parliament in his speech on Tuesday, boasting that Europe needs Britain more than Britain needs Europe, and that it is in Europe’s interest to be nice to Britain. His arrogance was extraordinary and in response to the catcalls and boos he received from his colleagues,, he derided the Europe’s Parliamentarians as “a bunch of bureaucrats who never held a proper job” in their lives. The exit vote was a glorious vote for the freedom and liberty of Britain. That refrain was picked up by France’s Marine Le Pen who seems to have succeeded his father as the leader of the right-wing racist Nationalist Party. She celebrated the Brexit vote as a kind of emancipation and excoriated the idea of the European Union and proposed a similar referendum for France. Indeed, the influence of the nationalist parties is putting pressure on Europe to make an example of Britain to discourage any member of the union from contemplating an exit.
The Labour Party was also in turmoil. Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was being fingered as one of the reasons the “In” campaign failed. He did not demonstrate any enthusiasm in the campaign and Labour MPs were nervous that if per chance the new Tory leadership called a snap general election in the fall, the party could be caught in the wrong foot. They do not think that Mr. Corbyn was a good candidate to lead Labour in a general election. After Corbyn fired Hillary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary, dozens of MPs resigned from the shadow cabinet, sending a signal to Mr. Corbyn to quit. He refused. Then on Tuesday a formal confidence vote was scheduled. Mr. Corbyn lost 40 to 172. In other words, as many as 172 members of Labour MPs no longer regard Jeremy Corbyn as their party’s leader. Even so, he refused to resign, though it was not mandatory and he is said to count on trade union activists for his support.
Jack Straw, former Foreign Secretary, spoke of an apocalypse if Corbyn stayed and Labour had to go into an election. “This I’m afraid is a very Trotskyist fantasy, that somehow or other he’ll be able to bypass parliament.” Because of the disarray in Labour, the Scottish Party which has only 45 MPs is positioning itself as the official opposition in the Commons. On Tuesday the Scottish Parliament voted 92 to 0 in favour of Scotland’s independence from Britain, which means another referendum could come sooner or later.
Brexit was not a surprise given the long-standing ambivalence of Britain but observers had counted on British historic ability to adapt, innovate and demonstrate tolerance which had been its distinguishing attribute as an empire through centuries. But it would appear it has become a more materialist country, so rich and powerful it feels it is self-sufficient and may not really need Europe, especially a Europe that comes with baggages such as immigrants of doubtful economic utility. The ethnic and racist attacks on the Poles and the Pakistanis must be considered an aberration.
But whoever succeeds David Cameron would do well to maintain the position that Europeans are neighbours, friends, allies before invoking Article 50. The European Union is right to insist on the common market coming along with freedom of movement. The British overt preoccupation with the economic benefits of the union seems to underrate the value of peace and security which the EU has forged and maintained for 60 years. For a nation that fought numerous wars for hundreds of years on the continent human memory must be truly short.
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