A disconnect between the British people and their rulers is nothing new. For decades, for example, the public has supported restoration of the death penalty, but hardly any senior politician dares espouse it. The disconnect is not, however, always irredeemable.
For years, a section of British public opinion wanted to leave the European Union. No major political party agreed. The more the public was thwarted, the more estranged they felt from Brussels and, indeed, from their own elected representatives. When the pro-EU David Cameron made – for him – the fatal decision to hold a binding referendum on the question, he misread public opinion and lost.
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