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[Bleepey]

A comment form the comments section of the Guardian went viral. It seems very GoTish but basically Cameron is given Boris a middle finger on his way out from number 10 and potentially annulled the Referendum:

If Boris Johnson looked downbeat yesterday, that is because he realises that he has lost.

Perhaps many Brexiters do not realise it yet, but they have actually lost, and it is all down to one man: David Cameron.

With one fell swoop yesterday at 9:15 am, Cameron effectively annulled the referendum result, and simultaneously destroyed the political careers of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and leading Brexiters who cost him so much anguish, not to mention his premiership.

How?

Throughout the campaign, Cameron had repeatedly said that a vote for leave would lead to triggering Article 50 straight away. Whether implicitly or explicitly, the image was clear: he would be giving that notice under Article 50 the morning after a vote to leave. Whether that was scaremongering or not is a bit moot now but, in the midst of the sentimental nautical references of his speech yesterday, he quietly abandoned that position and handed the responsibility over to his successor.

And as the day wore on, the enormity of that step started to sink in: the markets, Sterling, Scotland, the Irish border, the Gibraltar border, the frontier at Calais, the need to continue compliance with all EU regulations for a free market, re-issuing passports, Brits abroad, EU citizens in Britain, the mountain of legistlation to be torn up and rewritten ... the list grew and grew.

The referendum result is not binding. It is advisory. Parliament is not bound to commit itself in that same direction.

The Conservative party election that Cameron triggered will now have one question looming over it: will you, if elected as party leader, trigger the notice under Article 50?

Who will want to have the responsibility of all those ramifications and consequences on his/her head and shoulders?

Boris Johnson knew this yesterday, when he emerged subdued from his home and was even more subdued at the press conference. He has been out-maneouvered and check-mated.

If he runs for leadership of the party, and then fails to follow through on triggering Article 50, then he is finished. If he does not run and effectively abandons the field, then he is finished. If he runs, wins and pulls the UK out of the EU, then it will all be over - Scotland will break away, there will be upheaval in Ireland, a recession ... broken trade agreements. Then he is also finished. Boris Johnson knows all of this. When he acts like the dumb blond it is just that: an act.

The Brexit leaders now have a result that they cannot use. For them, leadership of the Tory party has become a poison chalice.

When Boris Johnson said there was no need to trigger Article 50 straight away, what he really meant to say was "never". When Michael Gove went on and on about "informal negotiations" ... why? why not the formal ones straight away? ... he also meant not triggering the formal departure. They both know what a formal demarche would mean: an irreversible step that neither of them is prepared to take.

All that remains is for someone to have the guts to stand up and say that Brexit is unachievable in reality without an enormous amount of pain and destruction, that cannot be borne. And David Cameron has put the onus of making that statement on the heads of the people who led the Brexit campaign.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics...cy-meetings-eu-uk-leave-vote#comment-77205935

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Brenial

 

[j_k_redtail]

"Boris Johnson just shot himself in the foot."

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

I don't like the implication that shitting his pants in the worst way possible before taking them off and flinging them at someone else is a masterstroke of strategy. Everyone knows it's his fault.

 

[TheRealTalker]

Brenial

.

 

[FyreWulff]

A lot of right wing feather fluffing and organization really does depend on that persecution complex and being defeated so you can paint the other side as the oppressor. And then you actually win and now you actually have to walk through the fire.

 

[mo60]

I don't think the conservatives will bother to trigger article 50 in the end. Leave won by only a small margin(like 4%) and triggering that article is pretty much not good for the person who triggers it.

 

[rokkerkory]

Wow pwned

 

[mysocksarepink]

any eli5

 

[diablos991]

People seem to be having a rough time accepting the popular vote on this one.

Any method of overturning this vote will piss off the majority of the citizens.

 

[Jonm1010]

People seem to be having a rough time accepting the popular vote on this one.

Any method of overturning this vote will piss off the majority of the citizens.

Didn't like only 36% of the total voting population actually vote "leave" for the Brexit?

Lots of people just stayed the fuck home.

 

[bodyboarder]

No one wants that on their resume.

 

[diablos991]

Didn't like only 36% of the total voting population actually vote for the Brexit?

Are you saying that sample size is too small To be representative of the population?

 

[Arials]

Didn't like only 36% of the total voting population actually vote for the Brexit?

Lots of people just stayed the fuck home.

Welcome to every single election with less than 100% turn out.

I very much doubt that all of the 17m who voted out are happy with what is going on right now.

 

[suedester]

That sounds like a whole lot of wishful thinking to me.

 

[ghst]

That sounds like a whole lot of wishful thinking to me.

this isn't a scientific or mechanical process. if nobody wants it to happen, it doesn't have to happen.

there will be a few opinion polls in the next week and expect a stark message to come from them.

 

[ItIsOkBro]

I'm still sitting here waiting for a reason why the next president won't brexit

 

[Jonm1010]

Are you saying that sample size is too small To be representative of the population?

Is this your first election?

If everyone in America voted every election the Democrats would win in many more places and more overwhelmingly nationally. But because motivation and apathy is a big factor it can swing votes.

I would think we would need a lot more info to determine how representative the vote in England was in terms of representing the total voting population.

As I heard on NPR today, lots of "remain" people just didn't think this shit would happen so there was some built in de-motivation going on. Not an expert on England polling but yeah.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

That sounds like a whole lot of wishful thinking to me.

Why? The time to trigger Article 50 was the morning after the vote. That time has passed.

With everything that has come to light since the referendum, it's hard to imagine a scenario where a new government would be eager to trigger it.

 

[wildfire]

All that remains is for someone to have the guts to stand up and say that Brexit is unachievable in reality without an enormous amount of pain and destruction, that cannot be borne. And David Cameron has put the onus of making that statement on the heads of the people who led the Brexit campaign.

No fucking shit. It was annoying to see a lot of people while claiming Cameron was the worst PM in history pretty much never accepted why Cameron was adamant that he'll help help the proBrexit people but always said staying in the EU must happen.

Cameron wanted the Remainers to win but also wanted to keep the UK united as best possible. Since his gamble backfired hard he forced the proLeave camp to fully understand the stupidity of taking that responsibility for themselves.

They're going to sober up in months and everyone will pretend the Leave vote was just hypothetical.

 

[MUnited83]

People seem to be having a rough time accepting the popular vote on this one.

Any method of overturning this vote will piss off the majority of the citizens.

if the "majority" votes to the be thrown out of a bridge doesn't mean those votes should be honored.

 

[gerg]

Didn't like only 36% of the total voting population actually vote "leave" for the Brexit?

Lots of people just stayed the fuck home.

More people voted in this referendum than did in (I believe) every election since either 1997 or 1992.

I'm still sitting here waiting for a reason why the next president won't brexit

One very practical reason is that MPs might be able to vote against the capacity to trigger Article 50, which, some commentators argue, will require consent from the House of Commons.

Edit: On a more theoretical side, one Guardian commentator represents the prisoners' dilemma as thus:

So far, the Germans and French have shown no sign they will allow Britain to at least control which EU migrants we let in. Staying in the single market means paying up and allowing free movement. But accepting those terms would be a denial of democracy. One hope is that EU leaders decide that giving us an undeserved concession on migration is less bad than the damage Brexit will do to other EU economies. The other hope is that enough people who voted leave take fright at a mighty recession and change their minds, deciding free movement is after all a price worth paying to avoid disaster.

 

[Arials]

If everyone in America voted every election the Democrats would win overwhelmingly in many more places and nationally.

Out won this referendum because white working class areas that traditionally have low turn outs came out in force to vote for it. If white working class Americans that don't usually vote turn out in the next US elections (and I'm guessing they outnumber the disaffected ethnic minority voters) it'll be a boon for Trump not the Democrats..

 

[diablos991]

if the "majority" votes to the be thrown out of a bridge doesn't mean those votes should be honored.

Sure it does if the vote was structured to be honored on a majority vote.

 

[Arnie7]

Screw this undemocratic bullshit. We may not like the outcome but people voted on the largest ever vote percentage for any single election. To deny this very act would shake the foundations that democracy of this state has been built on.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Screw this undemocratic bullshit. We may not like the outcome but people voted on the largest ever vote percentage for any single election. To deny this very act would shake the foundations that democracy of this state has been built on.

To deny an advisory referendum would be undemocratic?

The foundation of democracy in the UK is its parliament. For parliament to not do its job would be undemocratic.

Knowingly plummeting the country's hopes for the future and knowingly acting in a way that would jeopardize keeping the union together would not be doing its job.

 

[Skellig Gra]

No fucking shit. It was annoying to see a lot of people while claiming Cameron was the worst PM in history pretty much never accepted why Cameron was adamant that he'll help help the proBrexit people but always said staying in the EU must happen.

Cameron wanted the Remainers to win but also wanted to keep the UK united as best possible. Since his gamble backfired hard he forced the proLeave camp to fully understand the stupidity of taking that responsibility for themselves.

They're going to sober up in months and everyone will pretend the Leave vote was just hypothetical.

Sounds like wishful thinking to me.

 

[excelsiorlef]

People seem to be having a rough time accepting the popular vote on this one.

Any method of overturning this vote will piss off the majority of the citizens.

California once voted to deny gay folk the right to marry. That wasn't a good idea either.

 

[Alienous]

That's some Aiden shit.

 

[Branduil]

Screw this undemocratic bullshit. We may not like the outcome but people voted on the largest ever vote percentage for any single election. To deny this very act would shake the foundations that democracy of this state has been built on.

If your foundations require self-destruction they probably should be shaken.

 

[nomis]

Screw this undemocratic bullshit. We may not like the outcome but people voted on the largest ever vote percentage for any single election. To deny this very act would shake the foundations that democracy of this state has been built on.

Western democracy is not an untarnished monument

 

[Piecake]

Why? The time to trigger Article 50 was the morning after the vote. That time has passed.

With everything that has come to light since the referendum, it's hard to imagine a scenario where a new government would be eager to trigger it.

If that does actually play out, I wonder how the EU will react. I can't imagine that everything will just be swept under the rug.

 

[suedester]

this isn't a scientific or mechanical process. if nobody wants it to happen, it doesn't have to happen.

there will be a few opinion polls in the next week and expect a stark message to come from them.

Unfortunately over 17 million people want it to happen.

Why? The time to trigger Article 50 was the morning after the vote. That time has passed.

With everything that has come to light since the referendum, it's hard to imagine a scenario where a new government would be eager to trigger it.

The only scenario where it doesn't happen is if a GE is called before Article 50 is triggered and the winner is elected on the basis that they don't intend to trigger it. It is pretty implausible.

 

[Wyndstryker]

This whole brexit scenario is a political nuclear landmine that just went off. There is no more win win scenario in this.

 

[MUnited83]

Sure it does if the vote was structured to be honored on a majority vote.

It's isn't structured to be honored in the first place.

Are you saying that sample size is too small To be representative of the population?

For a vote of this magnitude, on a referendum that isn't supposed to not be binding?
Fuck yeah it's too small. Those 36% have absolutely no fucking justification whatsoever to completely and utterly fuck over every single person that lives in their country, increasing recession, fucking up the economy, rotting the country from the inside validating racist fuckwits and forcing the young to live with the consequences of this shitty vote for the rest of their lives.

Even the main campaigners for Leave are backtracking and they don't actually want it.

Let's not glorify a false sense of democracy of a vote that won on the back of lies, more lies, xenophobia and racism.

It's time to say "fuck it" to the referendum.

Screw this undemocratic bullshit. We may not like the outcome but people voted on the largest ever vote percentage for any single election. To deny this very act would shake the foundations that democracy of this state has been built on.

Not acting on a non-binding referendum isn't undemocratic. Undemocratic would not let the parliament do their fucking jobs and save UK from ruin.

 

[wildfire]

Sounds like wishful thinking to me.

See ya in 2 years.

 

[olympia]

any eli5

More like an eli25 but:

let's just say that you and your roomates are stuck with suck-ass comcast, and you pay them monthly for their suck-ass services because you need access to the internet. it sucks, but the benefits outweighs the costs.

you and your 64.1 million roommates are tired of this shit so you suggest staging a vote to tell comcast to fuck off. as a result the majority votes to disconnect comcast's service so they can take their boot of your neck.

you personally disagree with the decision to tell comcast to fuck off, because you really need the internet, even though you were the one suggested the vote in the first place. also, it's your supposed responsibility to call comcast's customer service and notify them that you are tired of this shit, but you don't want to be the brunt of the backlash when your roommates realize they will have to go without internet for a while until you can renegotiate a new monthly contract with comcast.

so instead of calling comcast, you move out and tell your roommates it's their problem. since nobody wants to be the one to call comcast, the house will probably stick with them for a while until they can find a new housemate who wants to call customer service

instead of notifying the EU, david cameron peaced the fuck out

 

[Mii]

My takeaway from the post is that whoever inherits the leadership is well and truly fucked.

But I feel that was obvious from the start. I don't think that was some stroke of genius on the part of Cameron. Cameron fucked up in his own way.

Brexit will either be the undoing of those who do not carry it out or it will be the undoing of the entire country.

Either way, many Britons will witness years of progress paused, bring about economic destruction, and be damned to irrelevance.

Its really now only a matter of who and how many are dragged down with it.

 

[jey_16]

I have read in some places that's Boris never actually wanted leave to win but campaigned for it?

 

[Flying Toaster]

If Britain doesn't go through with the Brexit that just shows that the British government is pretty much a joke. I understand the referendum was a suggestion but to ignore the voting public is pretty bad idea in a democracy.

The entire situation is a mess.

 

[lastplayed]

Henry VIII broke from Europe and left the country in a mess... Mary took over and reversed the decision and the country went straight to hell. I dunno where I'm going with this...

 

[Alienous]

any eli5

Not much eli5, but...

As I understand it, David Cameron said before the referendum that he'd trigger Article 50 (leaving the EU) immediately after the result if leaving the EU was the more popular choice.

But he's decided to leave triggering Article 50 to whoever replaces him after he steps down, which would be political suicide for that person (and perhaps political party) when the hardships and turmoil of the Brexit changes come to fruition, would cause similar backlash if they don't trigger it after advocating and campaigning for it (Cameron opposed it), or they can avoid the coveted job / political position entirely.

It's a Kobayashi Maru. The only option is to pick your preferred way to lose.

 

[kess]

The important thing is that it also breaks the illusion as the EU being a catch all for the ills of Britain caused by the conservatives themselves. Cameron's craven power move is screwing everybody, but Corbyn's ambiguous and equivocal response to Brexit prevents the center left from mobilizing a strong response to it.

 

[Piecake]

Henry VIII broke from Europe and left the country in a mess... Mary took over and reversed the decision and the country went straight to hell. I dunno where I'm going with this...

Elect a 'virgin' protestant pm next?

 

[akira28]

what the hell is Article 50? All the Beefeaters start tracking down and killing the royal family?

 

[Eusis]

People seem to be having a rough time accepting the popular vote on this one.

Any method of overturning this vote will piss off the majority of the citizens.

When it's this close you risk pissing off half of the people roughly regardless, nevermind all those who voted that changed their mind upon seeing the immediate aftermath and those who stayed home or forgot to vote for whatever reason.

If it was 66/33 or something I'd htink that's a large enough group that it'd be foolish to ignore, but in this situation it's kind of damned if you do damned if you don't, and sometimes the majority has to stuff it.

 

[SolicitorPirate]

Could someone with more familiarity explain Article 50 to me?

 

[Condom]

This is stupid I want England out. No matter what. Scotland to replace them. England can get their free-trade etc. but on our terms. No involvement of England hopefully means more progressive EU politics.

 

[olympia]

Could someone with more familiarity explain Article 50 to me?

article 50 means a nation can opt to leave according to that nation's laws, and the EU can't force them to exit. so, the nation who is trying to leave must send a notification to the EU to start the exit process. it's like pulling the trigger on the exit, the vote was just to demonstrate the populace's preference for leaving or staying

 

[gerg]

This is stupid I want England out. No matter what. Scotland to replace them. England can get their free-trade etc. but on our terms. No involvement of England hopefully means more progressive EU politics.

While we're pushing England out in the name of progressive politics can we remove Hungary and Poland too?