A vast swathe of the Tories (and indeed elements of Labour too) wanted out of the EU. They had spent the previous 30-40 years undermining that membership. With the help of the dog whistle activity of the tabloids and client journos, they pursued that course through the Referendum period. As PnP highlighted, they would not undertake any analysis that might provide the evidence to hole their campaign below the water line.
The whole thing was created due to fear of UKIP and Kipper Tories. Cameron was scared of Farage and his Question Time residency. They were leaking votes, politicians and press coverage to the loonies. That's it.
The rationale for it is moot (everyone understood it) . The moment you decide to play a "high stakes" game, you better do your utmost to ensure that the likelihood of a loss is near zero. They didn't. They lost.
Cameron tried to play both sides. He wanted to quiet down the fruitcakes in his party, but without them going for his throat. He predictably failed to control the rabid dog and it bit him in the arse.
I wish that in the 2015 election debate/hustings that Cameron had been called out as follows : You have committed to a referendum on the EU if you are elected as PM. In the event that the result is to leave the EU, then barring some catastrophic personal happenings, will you pledge not to resign as PM due to this matter ??
I think that he would've just made the pledge, then quit anyway. He should've insisted on a single, defined version of Brexit before the vote. None of them would've been either popular or effective.
He's such a bellend and even he appeared to accept that he ****ed that up. Surely he knew that before asking the question, though? Poor preparation if not.
Tate, Johnson, Trump, Bolsonaro and Berlusconi. A shower of scumbags all coming unstuck. Shame. If you're going to a corrupt country to commit crimes, maybe don't publicly boast about it?
Nope. There is nothing undemocratic about giving an electorate the chance to confirm or change their previous decision.
