Enemies of the People Are Becoming Rather Numerous

My opinion that yesterday's court judgement requiring the government to debate Brexit negotiations in parliament was a bit of a non-event wasn't shared by this morning's tabloids.  Both the Mail and the Express were completely over the top, with the Sun not far behind.  Out of touch judges now join the Mail's rather long list of undesirables along with migrants, Scotland, leave voters, metropolitan elites, the Labour Party and life saving vaccines.  The big surprise is the 'enemies of the people' phrase.  It sounds a bit like Mao's cultural revolution.  I'd always assumed that the Mail's totalitarian government of choice would be a fascist one rather than a communist one.  Well, whatever.
It goes without saying that they are talking nonsense.  The court judgement does not open the way to the will of the people being frustrated by the House of Commons.  It just stops Theresa May using parliamentary procedures to cover up some of the divisions in her party.  I am not even sure she was making the best choice in the circumstances even had she won.  That quite a few Tory MPs are out of kilter with the party's current policy position isn't a great look.  But compare that to Labour being out of touch with a big chunk of its voters - or possibly ex voters by now.  If I were her I might judge that the debate would do my opponents more harm than it would do me.

As is so often the case with newspapers and the people who follow them closely, they are missing the big picture.  The Commons cannot ignore that a majority of people voted to leave the EU.  As things stand that majority might well be eroding but it clearly isn't vanishing.   As long as leaving is the settled will of the people then leave we must.

The big question therefore is whether or not that will is going to stay settled.  Lurid headlines like those in today's papers might well shore up the anti-EU vote.  But their effect won't last forever and when we are looking at rising prices and job losses, you'll need something a bit stronger than faux outrage over a constitutional nicety.

That a lot of leave supporters still think like they are insurgents railing against the status quo isn't good news for people who want Britain to have a bright future outside the EU.  Knocking something is easy.  Coming up with persuasive arguments in favour of something is much harder - but that is what will be needed to keep public support for Brexit as it moves from an idea into reality.  It won't take long for MPs to notice if it becomes a vote loser.  All the courts in the land won't save it if that happens.