In response to Andrew Tettenborn: A referendum should settle an argument not start one, Mr Blair, Malcolm wrote:
The revelation that Tony Blair does not respect, nor even understand, true democracy is, of course, no revelation at all. We didn’t hear him calling for a second vote after his landslide election in 1997 lest the people didn’t realise that would be the result and didn’t intend such a powerful majority in Parliament. The stakes here are much, much higher than simply exiting the EU; they challenge the very basis of our constitutional settlement under which the electorate and not the political class have the ultimate power to determine the nation’s future. There is more than a whiff of desperation now in the statements and actions of many arch-Remainers like Blair, but the decision has been taken and attempts to overturn it will fracture the whole concept of peaceful politics in the UK, and could even lead to anarchy. With the reputation of the political classes starting as it does from such a low point after recent much publicised scandals it would not take much for the population, or significant numbers of it, to reject the political process entirely and take to the streets to demand change. Whilst Britain is not, by nature, a revolutionary country, there have been significant examples of them in our history that have proved to be watersheds. We may yet, if the Brexit-wreckers have their way, be approaching another. They would be very wise not to push too hard.
