We've had most of the grieving process from Remain by now,
Thank you.
so it remains to be seen if and when Leavers start getting 'buyer's remorse' in large quantities.
I've had buyer's remorse for much of the time since voting to stay in the EEC in 1975.
As Silurian said, the Tories are going to have an uphill struggle getting reelected unless Brexit really does lead to the mythical land of milk, honey and EU-free goodness.
In my mind the future is not at all rosy for either the United Kingdom or the EU.
Much of the growth over the last 25 years went to China. Much of the growth over the
next 25 years is in my opinion likely to go to China, India, Africa and (if Luiz can sort
out Brazil) to South America. This has little to do with Brexit, albeit that will simplify
decision making for UK & EU. The best that we can hope for may be a more equitable
restructuring of society during near zero growth (comparison here is Japan since 1990).
I rather think that it is Labour as the pro Remain party that are going to be in trouble.
I remember the Liberals went into the 2015 general election as the most pro EU
party and got hammered the most. This is why I do not think that it is appropriate
to regard the Leave vote as an anomaly.
Remain voters may think that people voted to Leave on the basis of simplifications and
exaggerations (I prefer not to use the term lie), and therefore implicitly that Remain
should have won; but it is arguable that just as many people voted to Remain
based upon fear and appeals to authority, the advice from self interested experts.
The impact of the high profile participants is interesting.
For instance
Michael Gove argued well in Parliament, but as most do not
watch that often, I doubt that had much impact on the vote.
Blondie
Boris Johnson probably did swing a good few votes to Remain.
For all his faults
David Cameron was, compared to John Major and Gordon Brown,
a popular Prime Minister who it is difficult to say is mistrusted or hated and it
is difficult for me to see that many voted Leave as a protest vote against the PM.
I think that
Jeremy Corbyn certainly bolstered the Remain vote.
As for
Nigel Farage, his contribution was two fold.
Firstly he led UKIP to win many MEP seats and Secondly he threatened to win votes
off the conservatives to the point at which David Cameron felt obliged to promise to
hold a referendum largely to avoid further attrition of the conservative voting base.
But for the UK referendum on the EU itself, his contribution was negative.
The people who voted Leave did not do so because of him. I am 60 and older than
him but find his style old fashioned (rather like that of car salesmen 30 years ago)
and reminiscent of those now in their 80s. I think that his style scared off many
liberal and metropolitan and younger voters into voting for Remain. How can I put
this politely. Probably not at all. So brutal it is. If he had stepped in front of the
Clapham omnibus last Christmas, the Remain vote would've been much smaller.