Those of certain political vintage will recall the US tennis player John McEnroe bellowing at unfortunate umpires that they ‘could not be serious’ whenever a call went against him. Golden ageism comes to all of us and we should be wary of it – but have we ever been ‘blessed’ with such a collective group of political leaders who ‘cannot be serious’?
Brexit is a toxic issue, full of contradictions and causes that play havoc with our traditional political structures, narratives and tribes. It is simultaneously ‘the greatest act of national self harm’ and the ‘greatest leap to national freedom’ ever made. There is no easy or quick way out of such extreme polarisation. But even the devilishness of Brexit doesn’t excuse the inept behavior and actions of our political leaders. From David Cameron’s initial gambit to call a referendum that should never have been called, to the latest and endless pontifications on a ‘government of national unity’ that will never be, too many politicians have revealed a sad mixture of incompetence, hubris, cowardice and cynicism. The best meant well and tried hard – but have not been good enough. Only two groups exempt themselves and pass the serious test. Sadly, the first are the hard core Brexiteers, who are deeply ambitious, competent and horribly serious. The second are those Labour MPs who looked to do a deal with Theresa May.
The rap sheet for the rest is lengthy. It starts with the acceptance of the ludicrous binary referendum on an issue of mind-numbing complexity, and with the failure to consider any threshold guiderails to the vote. It continues of course with an utterly pathetic remain campaign. All errors born of complacency, where so many ‘representatives’ revealed the fact that they were far out of touch with those they claim to represent, as they didn’t see the result coming. Then in the shell shock of the Leave mandate, Article 50 was invoked and set in train the very No Deal so many MPs now claim to be horrified by. And yet they made No Deal possible by starting a process they couldn’t or didn’t want to control.
