I've seen this argument a few times, about the dangers of the establishment failing to accept the legitimacy of the Brexit vote. It often goes on to suggest civil service negotiators are betraying Brexit. Does this fomer (and often critical) civil servant see any truth in it? 1/
There is a common perception that the (vast) majority of civil servants were avid remainers. Of those I know I'd be fairly sure it was a majority. But there are also plenty who would have been leavers. And plenty who see a good career opportunity either way. 2/
What about the negotiators? There are plenty of tweets suggesting Ollie Robbins is some kind of Rasputin figure encouraging the PM in her remainer tendencies. If so, why has the PM stuck with some pretty hard red lines - which make any deal difficult? 3/
You'd have to believe that this is all for show, and the plan is to fold at the last minute, for the betrayal theory to hold. Senior civil servants would in this scenario have to be superb actors, and ministers staggeringly incompetent. 4/
An alternate reading of rejecting legitimacy is that the EU won't do a deal with us as some people are campaigning for 2nd votes, remain, EEA, whatever. But is a democracy not supposed to encourage diverse views? Yes that may affect outcomes. Manage it. 5/
Another reading. We are not getting the outcome that we thought we would get, this is a betrayal of the vote, someone must be to blame. International deals though are a bit like that, where different countries are involved you often don't get what you want. 6/
We don't have to go full Versailles and after to understand the power of the betrayal narrative. But we could note that such a narrative is historically frequently corrosive and divisive of a political system. 7/
Returning to the matter of the UK's future relationship with the EU, what is or is not a betrayal of the vote? EEA? Chequers? WTO option? All would meet the ballot paper question. Do the 48% get a say? And is any future change allowed? 8/
Seeing some simplistic tweets from campaigning politicians may not be surprising. But from a Professor of Politics, Philosophy and Law? Is it not quite dangerous when such an individual blesses and legitimises betrayal narratives? 9/
There is an infinitesimally small chance of a Brexit establishment conspiracy. The establishment stays that way by bending with the wind. Rather an international negotiation against larger counterparts means not getting everything you want. How do we deal with that? 10/ ends
