Rory Stewart

The problem with it is twofold.

Number one, Britain didn't want to be Singapore on Thames.

Turns out, actually, if you look at the last 10 years, we haven't deregulated.

We haven't dropped tax.

In fact, corporation tax has gone up.

Why?

Because actually, we're much more social democratic and European than anyone wants to acknowledge, but it's the global Britain thing which has been the biggest disaster.

Because of course, that story, we can rely on the US, we can do wonderful integrated trade deals with China, looks much bleaker 10 years later, because we've understood how vulnerable we are to being exploited by our dependence on the US, how vulnerable we are to Chinese supply chains, how vulnerable we are to Russia and gas, and how actually in Ukraine, in energy crises, in the economy,

with AI, we need to be much closer to the people right on our borders, which is the European Union.

In other words, a whole security argument has emerged that has wrecked global Britain.

On the other side, we had Remain.

Remain had its fair share of pretty extreme apocalyptic predictions, some of which didn't come true.

Total collapse of the city of London, World War III, total inability for Britain to survive.

Actually, the reality, and this is what I want to provoke you with,

is damaging, underwhelming, slow decline, maybe 3%, maybe 8%.

So it was neither the heroic, certainly not the heroic future of the Brexit years, nor was it quite the complete extreme catastrophe of the total breakup of the European Union, the collapse of our financial sector, et cetera, that some on the Remain side predicted.

Oh, very good.

So still firing on all cylinders.

He's amazing.

Of course he did.