As I write, I happen to be next door to the Canadian House of Commons - which is far from my favorite place. But, at its lowest and most contemptible, Ottawa's House has never screwed over the Commoners the way that of its imperial mother just has in London.
Last night, sixteen days before Britain supposedly leaves the European Union in accord with the people's vote of three years ago, their elected representatives voted by 312 to 308 to rule out a "no-deal" Brexit - ie, a straightforward walkaway - ever.
So the EU now has no incentive ever to reach a deal with Britain. The appalling "deal" Theresa May "negotiated" was for a wretched and humiliating vassal status with Brussels. Because for the Eurocrats, what matters is to teach the lesson the ingrate voters that you can check "Out" any time you like but you can never leave. Mrs May's deal was meant to be a message to antsy Continentals that the citizenry's impertinence must never happen again.
When that flopped, Brussels moved to the next stage - not that Brexit must never happen again, but that Brexit must never happen, period. And, to their shame, the people's representatives at Westminster have colluded in their subversion of the people's will.
So last night the elites rose up and overthrew the masses. Of course, they have also destroyed their own reputation, and that of England as the Mother of Parliaments. But in a sense that also makes the larger point - that the world is too complex to be left to self-government by the people's representatives, so best to leave it to Brussels.Sorry, you grunting morons don't realize how difficult it all is, so you can vote for it all you want, but it can't be done. As Brendan O'Neill says in The Spectator, "Parliament's plot to thwart Brexit is complete." As Rod Liddle says, also in The Spectator, "Brexit is now dead." And in almost every other media outlet, most especially the BBC, the issue is presented not as a conscious subversion of Brexit but as prudent sober voices of restraint stepping in to save the nation from the chaos engendered by the people's stupidity.
If you're in the vicinity of the Palace of Westminster today, I would recommend sacking the place and salting the earth. But, as George Orwell once remarked in another context, "There is no turbulence left in England."
~Thank you to all our Mark Steyn Club members in the United Kingdom - and those elsewhere in the European Union - who've weighed in on this subject since Brexit began heading south. Feel free to add your tuppence ha'porth below. For more information on the Steyn Club, see here.
