Perfidious Albion

As I write, the Downing Street petition requesting a second European referendum if the majority vote is less than 60% on less than a 75% turnout, has passed the three million signatures mark. Nicola Sturgeon says that the Scottish Parliament could veto the exit from the EU; David Lammy says the UK Parliament should reject the referendum result. The Conservative party is leaderless and the Labour Party is in open internal warfare.

But whatever the outcome, the awful damage has been done. Even if the departure is vetoed by either of the parliaments, the Europeans will never trust us again. And who could blame them? Decades of good will and trust flushed down the lavatory.

This country used to be called Perfidious Albion; it was said that the sun never set on the British Empire because God did not trust the British in the dark. How apt those sentiments seem today; how can we ever hold our heads up in Europe again?