Geldof, Brown, Thompson, Blair, Sugar… you just took one hell of a beating
Tony Parsons says that an increasingly detached and lying elite were beaten by ordinary Brits demanding change
THE faraway towns have had their revenge on the arrogance of a Prime Minister who lied through his teeth about so very much.
Cameron lied about getting immigration down to the “tens of thousands”.
He lied about seeking meaningful reform from our chums in Europe and being prepared to lead the Leave campaign if he didn’t get it.
And he lied about the apocalypse that awaited our nation if we dared to throw off the shackles of Brussels.
Cameron’s career now ends in abject, total failure and it is impossible to feel even a shred of human sympathy for him.
He has always been a second-rate man with a first-class education, propelled into power by that Old Etonian confidence.
And now destroyed by it.
Then there was the arrogance of all those preening, pious luvvies.
Cameron’s always been a second-rate man with a first-class education, propelled into power by that Old Etonian confidence.
Doesn’t millionaire pub rocker Bob Geldof understand that when the public saw photographs of his raddled face, twisted with furious hatred as he screamed abuse at Nigel Farage on the Thames, he inflicted serious damage to the very cause he tried to serve?
Does he really believe the sight of him and his rich, drunken friends mocking Farage and British fishermen wins anyone over? The arrogance is beyond belief.
Geldof wasn’t the only luvvie who told us that the idea of Britain being a free, self-governing country was an impossible dream.
Keira Knightley, David Beckham and Benedict Cumberbatch all lined up to wag their fingers at the British people, to tell us we were sadly diminished, to assure us that we are nothing now. But why the hell should anyone listen?
Their champagne will taste very flat this weekend
Emma Thompson, oozing with loathing for our country, described the UK as “a cake-filled, misery-laden, grey old island”.
Are we meant to hear this kind of guff and meekly nod our heads in agreement? Emma, love — you did the campaign to leave the EU a magnificent service, darling.
And then there was the arrogance of the unelected, corrupt Little Europeans in Brussels who made no attempt whatsoever to understand the legitimate concerns of Britain, its second highest contributor.
If Cameron had been given some movement on the freedom of movement that allows any one of the 508million EU citizens to live in this country, I believe he would have won this referendum — and by a landslide.
The European Union told Britain to like it or leave it. Their champagne will taste very flat this weekend.
But the unelected elite of Brussels did not give anything remotely meaningful for Cameron to offer to the British people. More than 11million suckers — including me — truly believed Cameron when he promised to fight for a better deal for Britain within the EU.
But he asked for nothing and that’s what he got.
The European Union told Britain to like it or leave it. Their champagne will taste very flat this weekend.
Then there was the arrogance of Labour — a party that clearly despises the working-class voters it was formed to protect.
Labour’s open contempt for its core membership voters was the deciding factor in ending our EU servitude.
Jeremy Corbyn will not be forgiven for his limp leadership but the revulsion Labour feels for the working man began with Tony Blair and continued with Gordon Brown.
In the green room before the BBC’s Great Debate, at Wembley, a pro-Leave Labour MP told me that the EU referendum was a class war.
And he was right — there are now light years between Labour and the working class.
Worried about immigration? Then you’re a racist. Concerned about school classrooms that are full to bursting point? Then you’re a Little Englander. Angry you can’t get an appointment to see your GP or even dream of getting on the housing list? You must be a xenophobe.
For years Labour has refused to listen to the working class. And the working class just gave Labour its death sentence
For years Labour has refused to listen to the working class. And the working class just gave Labour its death sentence.
This is a good day for democracy — in Britain, in Europe and around the world. By our peaceful, civilised acceptance of the result, and the transition from EU member to independent nation, we have shown that huge change is possible without enormous upheaval, let alone slaughtering each other.
There were decent, patriotic and thoughtful people on both sides of the debate and I doubt if there is one person in the country who did not have friends, relatives and colleagues on the other side of the argument.
Yet there is no denying that it was often an ugly, vicious campaign.
Energy Secretary Amber Rudd thought it appropriate to sneer at Boris Johnson: “He’s the life and soul of the party but he’s not the man you want driving you home at the end of the evening.”
Baroness Warsi commented she “wouldn’t get on a night bus” with Michael Gove.
These were mealy-mouthed statements that stayed just short of being sexual slurs, yet the mighty Remain camp constantly tried to portray their side as morally superior to the Leavers, especially after the tragic murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.
The establishment was so unsure of its case to stay within the EU, so totally devoid of anything positive to offer the British people, that it stigmatised anyone who wanted to choose hope over fear.
The Remainers, from Cameron to the Rada luvvies, tried to make anyone who was worried about immigration look indistinguishable from a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Perhaps this is why the pollsters, and the bookies, and the City all got their predictions so spectacularly wrong.
Millions of decent people who are unhappy with uncontrolled immigration were shamed into keeping silent about their intentions. And if being called a bigot did not tame you, then there was always the prophesy of war, plague and economic collapse if we dared to leave.
The whole rotten edifice will come crumbling down
The Remain campaign tried to scare the living daylights out of the British people, but it did not work because the British people do not scare easily.
The Remain campaign tried to scare the living daylights out of the British people.
But it did not work because the British people do not scare easily.
This was people power in action, a working-class revolt by millions of men and women sick to death of having their concerns dismissed, their voices ignored.
There may be bumpy days ahead but we know in our blood and bones that our people will rise to these challenges, just as our parents and grandparents and great- grandparents rose to the challenges of the last century.
Britain will survive and thrive. Our island nation and our proud people will endure. We will save £20billion a year now we are free of the EU. Despite the huge changes that are in the air, we are only reverting to what we have always been — a proud, free nation.
We will certainly be around for a lot longer than the corrupt, conceited European Union.
The European Union doesn’t work.
The currency is broken.
The borders are shattered.
The unelected men who run the gravy train are giddy with their sense of self-importance.
The EU is unaccountable, wasteful and shockingly stupid.
Now the whole rotten edifice will come crumbling down. The idea that only the British despise the EU is a myth.
At the BBC Wembley debate, Labour’s London Mayor Sadiq Khan told the audience with a straight face that one of the things he valued about the EU was its work on climate change.
But for four days every month 1,000 MEPs, translators and pen-pushers decamp from the European Parliament in Brussels to a second European Parliament in Strasbourg, leaving a carbon footprint the size of a small planet and costing £130million of somebody else’s money.
The waste is insane.
Now the whole rotten edifice will come crumbling down. The idea that only the British despise the EU is a myth.
Mightier empires than the shabby little EU have drifted into the mists of history.
The British people were free, self- governing and independent when many European nations had a Communist or Fascist jackboot on their throat.
Our cry of independence will echo across the continent and it will be echoed from Sweden to Greece.
The British have found the courage to throw our arms around the whole big blue beautiful planet. We are ready for the world.
And the British can become what we have been for most of our history — a proud trading nation that takes orders from no one. We have stood up for ourselves and democracy.
The two most prosperous nations in the world are Norway and Switzerland — European nations that are not hamstrung by membership of the failed EU.
There is no reason why our great country cannot be the same.
Those who dine on sour grapes today whine that the UK is shutting itself off from the world. Far from it.
related stories
The British have found the courage to throw our arms around the whole big blue beautiful planet. We are ready for the world.
As for the EU, it is a failed 20th Century experiment. Its dole queues, financial stagnation and social unrest suggest that we will all live long enough to dance on its grave.
This week the British people learned something priceless.
This is still our country.
And we just got it back.