Chapter 7 Dealing with a Post-Brexit World
“What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate.”
—Donald Trump
Saturday 25 June 2016 dawned bright and dry, and in the market square of Banbury in Oxfordshire the BBC had set up the red sofa for an outside broadcast edition of their Breakfast Show. It was some 27 hours since the country had voted by a sizeable majority (52%–48%) to leave the European Union. I was that morning's guest on the sofa in that market square, surrounded by the street traders preparing their stalls for the day. A small crowd, even at 8:20 in the morning, had gathered behind the cameras.
That morning, live on BBC1 television, I said something which produced the biggest mailbag (along with its electronic and digital versions) that I have ever had, of which over 90% was supportive of what I'd said. So many letters said thank you for clearly stating the positive way forward amongst so much establishment-driven pessimism. As I write this chapter in the first few days of 2017, it is worth looking again at what I said that day:
“I am a reluctant leaver; I wanted to remain in a reformed European Union but I had no confidence that Brussels would stop its march inevitably towards 1970.”
“I am thrilled that, subliminally, almost subconsciously, the Great British Public have put their democratic freedom ahead of money.”
“The establishment elite have had a kicking; trade unions, big Business, ministers, Brussels and the markets, ...
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