‘I dreamed a dream’ … These are the words that seem fitting for David Cameron who today announced his resignation following a devastating assault by Vote Leave
David Cameron called this referendum. He chose the date for the vote, and the rules that would govern it. It was his to win. And yet as we reflect on a remarkable day of political history, David Cameron, puffy-eyed and fiercely beaten, is now counting down the limited days of his leadership.
It is understood that when the polls closed the PM believed Remain would win, encouraged by private polling and a YouGov poll predicting a 52-48 Remain victory. Cameron’s dream of uniting the Conservative Party and wanting to be one of the first leaders to ‘go out peacefully without a fight’ on his own terms, by the early hours of the morning turned a distant prospect. Instead, he has been brutally forced out of Number 10 by the people he and the establishment have refused to serve, for decades.
The UK has voted Leave because of the passion and hope for a brighter future, harboured by those who have suffered from austerity and the growth of the elites. A North and South split has not particularly taken place with Scotland, N. Ireland and London being the only areas to vote Remain. Across the UK, among the council estates and deprived uneducated areas, Euroscepticism was expected to be high. It was, and vote Leave were helped by these people; the poorer, white, English voters turning out in numbers not seen before. For some voters, Thursday’s ballot was the first time they cast their vote since the days of Margaret Thatcher.
This referendum gave a renewed sense of hope to people, who for so long have been told ‘we’re all in it together’, while seeing only poverty and despair take control around them. The establishment elite that has refused to listen to these people, have today got their deserved reward. The Leave vote today was as much a vote against the establishment as it was against Brussels. People are fed up, and for the first time in decades they have spoken — the vote providing them with a much-needed voice.
David Cameron will be known as the Prime Minster who was ousted as a consequence of his own decision to stage a referendum. The EU Referendum may be looked back on as the day the establishment finally began to unravel, as the unspoken suddenly became the spoken.
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