• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion Elevenses

Elevenses: Brexit betrayal theory

A stirring Tory revolt is proof that our politicians would rather be betrayed than wrong.

Jack Peat by Jack Peat
2021-12-21 13:25
in Elevenses
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

There can be few things in life worse than being wrong. The embarrassment, the ignominy, the humiliation, the shame. I’ve been wrong from time to time and, unless you’re the Dalai Lama, the Pope or, perhaps, Brian Clough, chances are that you have been too. And you’ll know as well as I do that there is, in fact, only one thing worse than being wrong; and that is admitting that you are.

For those Brexit MPs who looked through rose-tinted glasses at a life outside the European Union and fervently sold it to the British public the realisation that the reality isn’t all it’s cracked up to be must be pretty hard to stomach. Trade deals have left us in deficit, we’re bound by more red tape than we ever have been before and there’s an unshakable feeling that freedom in a globalised world isn’t liberating at all.

As Prospect’s Jonathan Lis recently wrote, the irony of the last five years is that Theresa May’s first and emptiest slogan was both the truest and hardest to accept: Brexit really does mean Brexit. If you erect trade barriers, trade will be harder. If you gut the workforce, there will be fewer people to do necessary jobs. If you leave a club, you can no longer enjoy the perks of membership.

It is something many of us have spent those five years pointing out. That “whatever you think you voted for was never going to happen”, as James O’Brien said, and that attacking the people who told you the truth, rather than those who lied to you, is futile.

But unfortunately, the people who told the lies have started to change their tune. Lord Frost’s resignation set in motion something we have come to term the ‘Brexit betrayal theory’ in the office. When the former (semi-former) Brexit secretary announced he was stepping down the former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage claimed he was leaving the government because he is a “Conservative and true Brexiteer”, while Boris Johnson “is neither”. And when Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, defended the prime minister in a Tory WhatsApp group because he was the “hero” who delivered Brexit she was duly removed by former ERG chairman Steve Baker who proclaimed “enough is enough” before posting a thumbs-up emoji of himself.

Notice there’s a lot of ‘formers’ in that sentence, and for good reason. When May chose her first cabinet she made sure to fill it with Brexiteers – few of them remain in their positions today. The most vocal Brexiteers no longer extoll the virtues of life outside the European Union; they have left their positions and now bemoan those still trying to make good on their impossible promises and their impossible project. And when it doesn’t work out, it’s not because it was a bad idea in the first place but because we didn’t Brexit properly. After all, in life, it is often better to have been done wrong than to have done wrong, and therein lies the rub.

Related: Elevenses: Do They Know It’s Christmas?

RelatedPosts

Elevenses: A Long Overdue Obituary

Elevenses: Let Bray Play

Elevenses: A Very Public Lynching

Elevenses: The day that Labour lost my vote

Tags: BrexitheadlineLord FrostNigel Farage

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

Canals near the Olympic Park have been invaded with tonnes of weeds 

1% NHS pay rise ‘an insult’, says son of nurse killed by Covid-19

ELIXIR OF YOUTH – Anti-ageing pill nearer reality after breakthrough by British scientists

Vegan and farmed animal charities come together to build a stronger, more united movement

Patel: PM warned ‘she is a bully and you shouldn’t have bullies in government’

Government accused of ‘dangerously fudging’ data on migration report

Aladdin: A being of magic and wonder

Jacob Rees-Mogg claims UK leads the way on Russia sanctions… but it backfires

Palace admits it ‘must do more’ to improve ethnic diversity as bullying probe into Meghan paid for by royal family

Two dopey teenagers snapped cycling along the M6 motorway after following an iPhone app

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.