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| Attempts to elevate the Brexit debate following MP's death begin to fray | Attempts to elevate the Brexit debate following MP's death begin to fray |
| (2 months later) | |
| The murder of Jo Cox, the British MP shot and stabbed to death in her Yorkshire constituency last week, was supposed to have raised the maturity level of the UK’s traumatizing debate on whether or not it should sever its 43-year relationship with the 500 million-strong European Union (EU). | The murder of Jo Cox, the British MP shot and stabbed to death in her Yorkshire constituency last week, was supposed to have raised the maturity level of the UK’s traumatizing debate on whether or not it should sever its 43-year relationship with the 500 million-strong European Union (EU). |
| And so it did for 24 hours, patchily for a few days longer. | And so it did for 24 hours, patchily for a few days longer. |
| Political leaders shelved their differences to visit the crime scene together, as the mentally unstable loner charged with her killing gave his name in court as “death to traitors, freedom for Britain”. On Monday David Cameron, the prime minister, and Jeremy Corbyn, opposition leader of the Labour party, led tributes in a specially convened session of the House of Commons. Colleagues of the idealistic and much-liked new MP wept. They were far from alone. The death of a lively young mother in her native town struck a deep chord. | Political leaders shelved their differences to visit the crime scene together, as the mentally unstable loner charged with her killing gave his name in court as “death to traitors, freedom for Britain”. On Monday David Cameron, the prime minister, and Jeremy Corbyn, opposition leader of the Labour party, led tributes in a specially convened session of the House of Commons. Colleagues of the idealistic and much-liked new MP wept. They were far from alone. The death of a lively young mother in her native town struck a deep chord. |
| But on Sunday night TV it was a different story, when Cameron was harried by a live studio audience. One middle-aged man likened him to Neville Chamberlain, the pre-war prime minister who tried and failed to appease Hitler. In vain did Cameron invoke Chamberlain’s towering successor, Winston Churchill: “He didn’t quit on Europe.” | But on Sunday night TV it was a different story, when Cameron was harried by a live studio audience. One middle-aged man likened him to Neville Chamberlain, the pre-war prime minister who tried and failed to appease Hitler. In vain did Cameron invoke Chamberlain’s towering successor, Winston Churchill: “He didn’t quit on Europe.” |
| British prime ministers do not command the automatic respect given to French or US presidents as heads of state. That nod goes to the Queen. Deference, fast fading before the current surge of populist nationalism, has taken fresh knocks in this campaign. | British prime ministers do not command the automatic respect given to French or US presidents as heads of state. That nod goes to the Queen. Deference, fast fading before the current surge of populist nationalism, has taken fresh knocks in this campaign. |
| The response from the studio audience prompted a defensive Cameron to promise to try harder regarding his government’s failure to check net immigration into Britain. The country’s 65 million population is up 5 million in barely a decade, much of it migrant driven, in a country only slightly larger in geographical terms than Idaho (population 1.65 million). Currently running at 300,000 a year – around half of it attributable to the EU’s open borders policy – immigration is the main driver of widespread popular antipathy to the continued link to the EU. | The response from the studio audience prompted a defensive Cameron to promise to try harder regarding his government’s failure to check net immigration into Britain. The country’s 65 million population is up 5 million in barely a decade, much of it migrant driven, in a country only slightly larger in geographical terms than Idaho (population 1.65 million). Currently running at 300,000 a year – around half of it attributable to the EU’s open borders policy – immigration is the main driver of widespread popular antipathy to the continued link to the EU. |
| Brexit campaigners have been neither coherent nor convincing in explaining how they propose to stem what is a Europe-wide tide. But their slogan “take back control” has struck a resonant chord, especially among voters who feel economically left behind by globalizing markets or recoil from the multiculturalism that has accompanied it, often transforming old neighborhoods in the process and piling pressure on public services. | Brexit campaigners have been neither coherent nor convincing in explaining how they propose to stem what is a Europe-wide tide. But their slogan “take back control” has struck a resonant chord, especially among voters who feel economically left behind by globalizing markets or recoil from the multiculturalism that has accompanied it, often transforming old neighborhoods in the process and piling pressure on public services. |
| Free from the restrictive monetary policies and laggard recovery of the single currency eurozone, which Britain declined to join in 2002, the number of people with jobs in the UK has boomed to 31.58 million in early 2016 for natives, and 3.34 million for migrant workers (2.15 million from the EU) alike. At 5.1%, unemployment is half the rate in France. But, as in the US, many jobs are low-paid and insecure. Voters worry for their children’s future; anxious hearts rule heads. | Free from the restrictive monetary policies and laggard recovery of the single currency eurozone, which Britain declined to join in 2002, the number of people with jobs in the UK has boomed to 31.58 million in early 2016 for natives, and 3.34 million for migrant workers (2.15 million from the EU) alike. At 5.1%, unemployment is half the rate in France. But, as in the US, many jobs are low-paid and insecure. Voters worry for their children’s future; anxious hearts rule heads. |
| Heads of the pointy variety line up in ever-greater numbers to warn against the risks of a shrinking economy and wider political instability if voters back Brexit in Thursday’s referendum. This weekend Nobel laureates joined more business leaders, the head of England’s beloved soccer Premier League, the prime minister of Ireland (which would become the EU’s only land border with Brexit Britain) in the chorus of worldwide advice – all saying the same thing: in a fragile world, please don’t do it. Are the English ready for self-government, asked one Irish writer? | Heads of the pointy variety line up in ever-greater numbers to warn against the risks of a shrinking economy and wider political instability if voters back Brexit in Thursday’s referendum. This weekend Nobel laureates joined more business leaders, the head of England’s beloved soccer Premier League, the prime minister of Ireland (which would become the EU’s only land border with Brexit Britain) in the chorus of worldwide advice – all saying the same thing: in a fragile world, please don’t do it. Are the English ready for self-government, asked one Irish writer? |
| The pro-Brexit Donald Trump is a conspicuous exception and his appeal is a more raucous version of that offered by Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party (Ukip), Britain’s Tea Party which appeals to tax-averse rightwing libertarians and blue-collar defectors from Labour. World leaders do not impress an insular wedge of the electorate. | The pro-Brexit Donald Trump is a conspicuous exception and his appeal is a more raucous version of that offered by Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party (Ukip), Britain’s Tea Party which appeals to tax-averse rightwing libertarians and blue-collar defectors from Labour. World leaders do not impress an insular wedge of the electorate. |
| Ukip got 13% of the vote in Britain’s 2015 general election, but only one MP: the first-past-the-post voting systems shared by the US and UK are tough on third-party insurgents. Farage was again rejected personally in his fifth attempt to become an MP. Ironically, the EU’s proportional voting system has ensured him a seat (and salary) in the European parliament in Strasbourg since 1999. | Ukip got 13% of the vote in Britain’s 2015 general election, but only one MP: the first-past-the-post voting systems shared by the US and UK are tough on third-party insurgents. Farage was again rejected personally in his fifth attempt to become an MP. Ironically, the EU’s proportional voting system has ensured him a seat (and salary) in the European parliament in Strasbourg since 1999. |
| Now 52, the ex-commodity broker from a privileged background revels in “politically incorrect” soundbites, complete with cigarette and foaming pint of beer. Country club geniality has served him well, his Strasbourg parliamentary insults instant hits on Facebook, though Farage handles dissent within his party more ruthlessly. | Now 52, the ex-commodity broker from a privileged background revels in “politically incorrect” soundbites, complete with cigarette and foaming pint of beer. Country club geniality has served him well, his Strasbourg parliamentary insults instant hits on Facebook, though Farage handles dissent within his party more ruthlessly. |
| On the day of Cox’s murder, Farage unveiled a billboard poster shot of Syrian refugees with the implication that all are heading towards Britain. “Breaking Point: the EU has failed us all,” declared the accompanying slogan. Even his allies in the Brexit campaign were appalled by the Trump-style nakedness of its appeal. Three days later, Lady (Sayeeda) Warsi, former chairman of Cameron’s party and a Muslim lawyer of Pakistani stock, quit the Brexit campaign over its “divisive and xenophobic” tactics. Harry Potter’s creator, JK Rowling, has called it “the ugliest debate” of her lifetime. | On the day of Cox’s murder, Farage unveiled a billboard poster shot of Syrian refugees with the implication that all are heading towards Britain. “Breaking Point: the EU has failed us all,” declared the accompanying slogan. Even his allies in the Brexit campaign were appalled by the Trump-style nakedness of its appeal. Three days later, Lady (Sayeeda) Warsi, former chairman of Cameron’s party and a Muslim lawyer of Pakistani stock, quit the Brexit campaign over its “divisive and xenophobic” tactics. Harry Potter’s creator, JK Rowling, has called it “the ugliest debate” of her lifetime. |
| But the Brexiteers know they cannot win the economic argument, even if they can persuade voters to ignore EU/Nato cohesion over terrorism or Putin. In the past few days opinion polls have seen the “Remain” camp regain ground as wavering voters assess the risk, as they do when invited to take a gamble with the status quo. | But the Brexiteers know they cannot win the economic argument, even if they can persuade voters to ignore EU/Nato cohesion over terrorism or Putin. In the past few days opinion polls have seen the “Remain” camp regain ground as wavering voters assess the risk, as they do when invited to take a gamble with the status quo. |
| So even Brexit’s more respectable adherents, cabinet colleagues of Cameron, have been forced to play Ukip’s immigration card. Much of what they say by way of remedy is no more plausible than Trump’s Mexican wall, but that is not the point: it addresses feeling and fear, not dry policy of the sort which has failed to deliver on oversold promises. | So even Brexit’s more respectable adherents, cabinet colleagues of Cameron, have been forced to play Ukip’s immigration card. Much of what they say by way of remedy is no more plausible than Trump’s Mexican wall, but that is not the point: it addresses feeling and fear, not dry policy of the sort which has failed to deliver on oversold promises. |
| Farage’s response to Cameron’s calls for a more moderate tone that will allow the country to unite behind Friday morning’s verdict? The prime minister has left it to others to suggest that Brexit’s conspiracy-soaked narrative that speaks of treason and betrayal by national elites may help push unstable minds towards violence. Like the French National Front’s leader, Marine Le Pen, Farage has flipped the argument: it’s the contempt of elites for ordinary people that drives then to violence. | Farage’s response to Cameron’s calls for a more moderate tone that will allow the country to unite behind Friday morning’s verdict? The prime minister has left it to others to suggest that Brexit’s conspiracy-soaked narrative that speaks of treason and betrayal by national elites may help push unstable minds towards violence. Like the French National Front’s leader, Marine Le Pen, Farage has flipped the argument: it’s the contempt of elites for ordinary people that drives then to violence. |
| Faced with the awkward circumstances of the death of Cox, a pro-Remain campaigner, Farage accused Cameron of exploiting it for political ends. After Orlando, that might sound familiar to American ears. Three days to go. | Faced with the awkward circumstances of the death of Cox, a pro-Remain campaigner, Farage accused Cameron of exploiting it for political ends. After Orlando, that might sound familiar to American ears. Three days to go. |
| Michael White is a former political editor and Washington correspondent of the Guardian | Michael White is a former political editor and Washington correspondent of the Guardian |
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