Sound like a referendum but we've had one of those and Leave won, not that you'd know that from looking at the Parliamentary mindset. I'm a person who has always done politics. Had many meetings with parliamentarians both inside and outside the House of Commons and for my part I honestly knew what I was voting for. May I ask you how do you think you'd feel if Remain won and three years later we told you that you didn't know what you were doing and you should keep voting until you lost? I'm not meaning to be argumentative but what is being suggested is against democracy. It does not make it stronger as the liberal left will tell you; it undermines the very principle and will cause fractures in society and the political process.
In fact when Cameron began campaigning I was surprised how even handed the media were initially treating the contest but that's because they honestly believed that it was in the bag. And so did I at that point, although it did change soon after. However, on the Monday afternoon before the vote I was sat down having lunch and watching the news when "Breaking News" came in from Number 10 and they interrupted the the schedule to go straight to Downing Street. Cameron and Osbourne came out and made this rallying call to Vote Remain. At that point I turned to my wife and said that on the Monday Morning Downing Street would be given an idea of the level of postal votes that had come in over the month and I knew what that meant. I went straight to the bookies (I'm no gambler honest) and had a hundred pounds on at 6/1.
That said, I accept that we know even more now and I can understand the clamour for a second vote but my gripe has always been the one sided reporting both before the first referendum and even more intensively since it. Look at the BBC or Sky News for instance and if you were not in the opposite camp then you may ask why so many contributors are for the pro remain side and there is a desire to tar anyone on the Leave side as Loony Tunes. The imbalance is actually quite stark and in the BBC's case contrary to the rules of the Charter but then again they are funded by the EU grant. And even so, despite all of this Leave is still not a lost cause. Where would you imagine the polling would be with balanced reporting? Even in these pages people are reporting as fact that LR have moved because of Brexit, when the truth is that the decision to move was taken before it was decided to hold a referendum and was a purely financial decision because Slovakia gave a huge cash incentive and was investigated under anti-competition rules by the EU.
For my part I'd actually prefer to remain in the EU, rather than take a remainers vision of what Brexit looks like because all that Mrs. May has done is upset both sides. Not because she has intended to but because she doesn't know any better. She was a dreadful Home Secretary and I believe that history will show her to be one of the worst Prime Ministers in our history. I appreciate that we don't know one another but I am not like the media would wish to characture me.
PS Portofino in a great colour for a D5