“Even if the result did not surprise me, Brexit was a real shock”

by time news

“There are strong days in life, especially in politics. Days when you remember every detail. June 23, 2016, the day of the British referendum on remaining in the European Union, and the morning of the results, is one of them.

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I took part in the referendum campaign. I was not included in the national campaign. I regretted it at the time because I found that its leaders were not leading a good strategy at all, forgetting to highlight the slightest positive aspect of our presence in the EU. So I limited my outings to my constituency and a few regions of the country. Towards the middle of May, I became aware during my meetings that the situation was perilous and that we were perhaps going to lose the referendum. Coming back from one of them in Devon, a rather affluent region, I had said to my wife: “This is going to end very badly.”

“It’s screwed, we lost.”

I spent the day of June 23 in my constituency, campaigning, encouraging people to vote, which is allowed in the UK on election day. In the evening, I left for London. I went to the reception organized by the official Remain campaign group (remaining in the EU, editor’s note) in a restaurant near the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. Around midnight I went to the Festival Hall, reserved by the Remain camp for the night of the counting. When the first results came in, around one o’clock in the morning, it became clear that the case was going badly.

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I went home to bed around 2:30 a.m. I slept badly. I woke up three hours later. I looked at the internet on my phone and that’s how I found out we were leaving the EU. My wife woke up a few minutes later. I told him: “It’s screwed, we lost.”

Anger

We were depressed, I was depressed. Even if the result did not surprise me, it was a real shock. In my eyes, it was a real national disaster. It meant that people ignored the institutional and economic consequences of Brexit and acted without rational motivation, driven by the feeling that our national identity was being stifled by the EU. Above all, I saw that this vote would create discord and that this monstrous work would distract us from all our other priorities.

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I also felt anger. Not against my colleagues, even if they had taken a path that I thought was foolish, because they had done it for honorable reasons. But I was mad at Johnson(then MP and supporter of Brexit, editor’s note). It seemed obvious to me that he was the architect of the success of the Leave campaign. (leaving the EU, editor’s note). And I remain convinced that he did not think he would win this vote, but that they wanted to place themselves in pole position to succeed Prime Minister David Cameron, who had announced that he would not complete his second term.

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To try to alleviate this feeling of depression, I immediately resumed my routine: I went to have breakfast in the House of Commons. The years have passed, I am no longer a deputy, but my opinion has not changed: I remain angry with this monster stupidity whose damage is becoming apparent every day. »

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