This last Sunday marked the centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele – one of the bloodiest of World War One. Officially known as the Third Battle of Ypres, Passchendaele was fought between 31 July and 6 November 1917 in the West Flanders region of northern Belgium. About 275,000 Allied troops and 220,000 Germans died. In a very moving ceremony, shown on television, Prince William joined the King of Belgium in laying wreaths at the Menin Gate in Ypres. The gate – which stands where British troops marched when heading to the battlefields – is covered with the names of 54,391 British dead who have no known grave.
The slaughter of that unbelievable number of young men has left its indelible mark upon the historical memory of most Europeans, regardless of which side their nations were on in the brutal, cruel and senseless First World War, and later, the equally destructive Second World War that grew out of the policies of revenge adopted after the First war. It was to prevent such disasters happening again that those nations joined together to form the European Union.
A hundred years later the British Prime Minister, Teresa May, also laid a wreath on behalf of a British government that, one hundred years later, almost to the day, is leaving the EU and thus helping once again to destabilize Western Europe, not to mention Great Britain. Is she capable of connecting the dots? Has she any grasp of European history or the endless, futile wars that have plagued it? Does the irony of what she is so intent on doing register with her, do you suppose?
I don’t know that if the EU hadn’t been created, there would have been wars between would-be EU member states after WW2. But I certainly believe that increasing the amount of trade and sharing a common regulatory system reduces the amount of conflict between European nations, even if such conflict doesn’t always turn violent.
As for Theresa May, like almost everyone else in Westminster, she feels bound by the referendum result. Pro-EU politicians may not be enthusiastic for Brexit, but they believe it is their democratic duty to get on with it. For the time being, I reluctantly agree. However, I also think politicians shouldn’t stop making the pro-EU case, simply because we’ve already had the referendum. If there is a decisive change in public opinion from being split on the EU to being firmly in favour of it, Parliament should cancel the Article 50 process. Like most people, I don’t want another referendum, because that would have all the problems of the first one: politicians making misleading statements or outright lies, fear mongering about immigrants, ambiguity as to what Leave and Remain actually involve, the public’s lack of knowledge about the EU, and people voting out of disillusionment with Westminster, not the EU. But as a people, we have a right to change our mind.
If I had to make a prediction, I think a distinct majority that regret the referendum result will emerge. But by the time that happens, it will probably be too late. Unless I’m wrong and attitudes shift quicker, the government has no choice but to make the best out of a tricky situation.