One of the big political stories from last week was the publicity surrounding the cohort of 29 Brexit Party elected members turning their backs during the EU’s anthem in Strasbourg.
While I was not surprised by their decision to do so, I was surprised by the coverage it received.
As far as I can tell, the UK has been turning its back on the European Union for many years, even before the vote to leave in 2016.
Since the referendum vote to leave, we have seen three rejections to the withdrawal agreement, a dire turnout at the most recent European elections and a Eurosceptic majority returned to the European Parliament, all of which serve as explicit acts of the UK turning its back on the European Union.
Former Conservative Cabinet member Ann Widdecombe described the act as “symbolic” and, to be fair, it is hard to argue that it was not in sync with what a majority of the electorate sent them there to do.
However, I still think the ultimate act of turning one’s back on the EU will be the election of Boris Johnson as Conservative leader and British prime minister and leaving the European Union without a deal.
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