On Saturday in the small East Sussex town of Lewes, at less than 48 hours’ notice, 400 demonstrators filled the bridge across the River Ouse to protest Boris Johnson’s ‘coup’ in closing down parliament. A small echo, perhaps, of Lewes as the place where Tom Paine famously wrote The Rights of Man? Or as the site of the 1264 Battle of Lewes, where Simon de Montfort and his rebel barons initiated the centuries long forward march towards parliamentary democracy? Or indeed, of what Lewes is most famous for; bonfire! (As a home-made placard put it, “In Lewes we know a Gunpowder Plot when we see one.”).
But whatever the history, this was all about now. The success was its localness. We could have traipsed off to join the crowds thronging Whitehall or filling up The Level in Brighton, but instead we stayed where we are to maximise the impact. And there were lots of other protests like ours across the country. Same day, more or less the same message – a network of protest. A movement. A contrast to London protests that grab media coverage but are written off by large parts of the rest of the country as “oh, that's London”.
The message in Lewes, as elsewhere, was clear. “The coup isn’t just about leave vs remain. It’s just wrong.” The remain campaigners of course were there in force and very welcome. But the broader nature was welcome too. Because – and sorry if this offends very welcome allies – but wrapping yourselves in the EU flag is both a sartorial and political error. The EU itself is not an institution that has ever been held in huge affection by the Great British public. It’s a flag only ever worn when Europe wins the Ryder Cup, and since 2016 on anti-Brexit demos. We're not going to shift the indifferent and grudging support for the EU by waving the EU flag in their face. Rather it’s about Britain remaining part of it and working with political allies across Europe to make it better so that it doesn’t prevent the radical transformation of our own country.
