Long Read: June 24 2016: The day the world changed?

But it reflected the fact that, with the rise of the Scottish Nationalists north of the border, the strong showing by UKIP, and the recent experience of coalition government, it appeared that the British electoral system had stopped doing what it was best at – preserving the duopoly of the two big parties. [...] And while the Conservatives had managed, by the time of the general election, to unite the Leave vote, the Remain camp was split: nearly four fifths of those in favour of Leave in December 2019 backed the Conservatives, but just 49% of those who supported Remain cast their ballot for Labour. [...] And the former Chancellor maintains that no thought went into the implications of the creation of the Department of International Trade for UK membership of the Customs Union – though most observers drew the logical conclusion that the former implied exit from the latter. [...] Opinions of the UK system of governing were at their lowest point in the history of the series (worse even than in the immediate aftermath of the MPs’ expenses scandal). [...] Rather, it is the evidence – in the size of the Prime Minister’s majority, in his domestic political strength, and in the polling– that public opinion is happy to accept the kinds of tactics he has deployed.