[tw]

Originally Posted by DanaC

What was needed was an actual conversation about immigration and about investment in infrastructure and jobs. Instead, governments and oppositions have, for quite some time now, used 'standing up to Brussels' as a way to look strong at election time, or 'not standing up to Brussels' as a scourge for the incumbent party. Nobody in a leadership role has been willing to seriously engage with the benefits of EU membership, or tackle the wildly inaccurate coverage of EU matters in the media. The opening to the final act in this particular frenzy, was the Prime Minister promising a referendum on EU membership in order to bolster his standing coming into an election, a promise that it would be a simple 'in - out' question - because, hey, we really don't want to complicate such an important question of our national future with any kind of nuance*, and was then followed up by leading Tories winding up the Leave campaign in order to cause political damage to the current PM and bolster their chances of winning the leadership election that will follow Cameron's demise.

That right there is probably a best summary of what just happened. I have never heard is summarized better.