There is also a lot of hypocrisy in all the rebellion . The Democrats didn ’ t seem to care so much when their own president , Barack Obama , bombed Syria . But when Trump launched a military operation against Al- Qaeda in the Yemen ( unfortunately one that went tragically wrong ), there was a huge outcry from the Democrats , even though the Yemen was another country that Obama bombed when he was president .
Here in the UK , there is uproar over President Trump ’ s state visit . Apparently , this may now have to be moved from London to Birmingham because of worries about mass demonstrations and security risks . If this were to happen , it would be one of Britain ’ s greatest ever national embarrassments . Donald Trump is the democratically-elected president of what is the world ’ s greatest superpower and Britain ’ s most important ally . Whatever we think of Trump , we should welcome him as the leader of that country . Anything else would be an insult to the American nation .
We witnessed the same disrespect for democracy last summer , after the Brexit vote . More than four million people signed a petition calling for a re-run of the EU referendum , because they didn ’ t like the result . This petition stated : ‘ We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60 % based on a turnout of less than 75 % there should be another referendum ’. This was probably the most ridiculous petition of modern times . It was like trying to change the result of a football match after it has been played . It made me wonder whether I should have started a petition when Manchester United won the FA Cup last season , to try to force a replay because they won only by a single goal .
On 1 February , the House of Commons voted to invoke Article 50 and to start the Brexit process . Many of the MPs who voted in favour of this were Remainers , but they realised their duty was to follow the will of the people expressed in the referendum – and that anything else would be undemocratic . What is incredible is that 114 MPs actually voted against it . This was the ultimate act of political arrogance . Imagine what would have happened if MPs had actually overturned the result of the referendum . Civil war ?
Recently Tony Blair , the former Prime Minister made an extraordinary statement . He called on the British people to ‘ rise up ’ and fight against Brexit , because the decision to leave was based on ‘ imperfect information ’. This was the man who took Britain into the Iraq war , against the will of the British people , based on a dodgy dossier of lies . Tony Blair was happy to accept the will of the people in the General Election , when it put him in power and gave him his job . But apparently he doesn ’ t want to accept it now . It is the ultimate in hypocrisy . He might as well call on the British people to ‘ rise up ’ and fight against democracy . In Scotland , the SNP are now also talking about holding a second referendum on Scottish independence because , they say , the situation is different now that Britain has voted to leave the EU . I think what they actually mean is that we should keep on holding referendums until we eventually get the result the SNP wants , and then stop . That is not how democracy works .
What all this shows is how much politicians have become out of touch with reality . They are not listening to the people they are supposed to represent . And this is exactly why mavericks like ‘ The Donald ’, his new best friend Nigel Farage , Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have attracted so many supporters – because they are all independent , free-spirited , loud and a bit mad . In other words the opposite of most politicians . By voting for them , people are casting ‘ protest votes ’ against politicians in general , against Old Etonians in the Houses of Parliament telling them what to do , against people in power not listening to their concerns . The same thing may be about to happen in France , where there is a chance that Marine le Pen , the leader of the National Front and a more extreme , female version of Nigel Farage , may be elected president . And if the protest voting continues in the other European elections , it could eventually lead to the breakup of the EU altogether .
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