Thread by @jameskirkup

Based on many responses to this piece, I’m struck by the utter confidence some FBPE tweeters have in their own understanding of Conservatives & Leavers, groups they evidently dislike + see as “other”.

https://twitter.com/jameskirkup/status/1334878371558400004

Numerous responses argue that wicked Tories always secretly wanted the hardest Brexit ergo there was never any point seeking Norway etc. The (accurate) idea that the Tory Leave position evolved (hardened) over time and in response to ...

circumstances does not exist in FBPE mythology. It’s a narrative that entirely overlooks the messier reality of a Tory Leaver position that was born of incomplete information and developed chaotically and quixotically *and reached an endpoint that was not inevitable*.
...

With a few small changes in history, something like the May deal could easily have commanded Tory/Leave support. There’s a reason Dominic Cummings thought MPs should vote for it: the Leave position mixes pragmatism and ideology, just like all political movements do.

But it’s easier for the FBPE diehards to believe that your opponents are implacably mad & bad than to try to understand them and why they do what they do. And to believe that you were beaten by a sinister plot rather than ppl making it as they went along, like we all do. /End

PS: also v telling how many Remain ppl upset about my argument either lazily assume "You write for Spectator = you voted Leave" without checking facts/reading piece, or take bad-faith view that I'm lying when I say I voted Remain. #PurityTestPolitics