Brexit gave us a different class of snob, so observed Bryan Appleyard in The Spectator last week. Never a truer word said.
Ever since the (stunning for us, and shocking for others) Brexit vote, the losers have busied themselves treating the winning half with pity and, more often, with disdain. This is the latest rendition of the British class system at work:
‘Suddenly it was OK to believe that there was something fundamentally wrong with people worse off than you. Snobbery was respectable again; a dangerous development’. Indeed it is.
What better way to describe the petulant, arrogant and angry behaviour of the new Remoaner class?
Appleyard’s new Remoaner class is one and the same as the ‘post-democratic’ liberal elite that John O’Sullivan identifies in the same edition of The Spectator.
O’Sullivan defines this elite by its use of non-accountable institutions to exclude important issues from the political agenda and its habit of overturning majority decisions. The repeated Irish referenda on the Lisbon Treaty is a classic example.
The current cases challenging Brexit before the courts are the most recent examples. Once again we see disgruntled – or threatened – powerful elites using non-accountable institutions in their attempt to overturn majority decisions.
But who, since Brexit, are the guilty men and women of the Remoaner class? Who are the ‘activists’ who have most vocally defended its interests?
Before Christmas we invited you submit your nominations for our ‘Remoaner of the Year’ award.
Several of you said that there were simply too many contenders. You could run it each month and easily find three new candidates each and every time.
Others, including John Thomas, thought the clear winner had to be the ‘Brussels Broadcasting Corporation’ (aka the Brazenly Biased Corp, aka the BRINO – British in Name Only – Broadcasting Corp): ‘They can, and have”, he said, “blame ANYTHING (and everything) onto the referendum result, and still, all these months later, they’re still hard at it’.
However we were looking for the pithiest case made in favour of any one individual’s nomination.
On that basis our first runner up is:
Ian Walker who recommended, ‘the outpourings of three remoaners: Nick Cohen, Alex Massie and Matthew Parris (if you have a bucket handy) who between them have provided us with the best examples of the ‘Remoaner Delusion Mindset’ to be found in print:
Cohen for the sheer tenacity of his opposition to evidence,
Massie for the most bigoted attacks on ‘bigots’ (eg people who don’t agree with him) are worthy candidates, but it had to be Matthew Parris for his “I’m ashamed to be British” comment, which he then followed up with his “losing faith in democracy”, a quite stunning position for an ex-Parliamentarian to hold’.
Our second runner up is Politically__Incorrect, for whom Gina Miller stood out from the many potential candidates:
‘Gina Miller tells us that she is not trying to overturn the Brexit vote but is just trying to make sure that Parliament follows the “proper” process. Yes Gina, people are really passionate about process. Nothing gets the blood coursing through our veins like a bit of process and protocol. So Ms Miller gets my vote, not just for trying to trash the democratic process and scupper Brexit, but also for not having the courage or the honesty to admit it. ’
But our TCW bottle of champagne goes to Bik Byro, who harboured no doubts at all about his nomination and whose winning entry came in at a neat 96 words:
‘It absolutely has to be Bob Geldof. Firstly, for the supreme entertainment of him chasing down the Thames beside a flotilla led by Nigel Farage while being hosed with water from Brexit Fishermen, all the while swearing and making ‘V’ signs in protest. Then for his towering intellectual input to the (by-election) campaign in Richmond Park to which his main contribution was chanting “Zac is Cr*p”. And finally for pontificating that “half the EU is desperately unhappy, It doesn’t function …(and is) ignoring the wishes of European citizens” … Or as he put it more succinctly: “Most people think I’m a complete tw*t” .
A sentiment we heartily endorse. Since Mr Geldof obligingly said this of himself we’ve chosen to forgive an expletive normally we would have deleted!
So congratulations to Bik Byro and the runners up, Ian Walker and Politically_Incorrect, and many thanks to all those who submitted their nominations for Remoaner in Chief. Competition remains intense.
(Image: Garry Knight)
