There was a time when Eurosceptics revered British democracy: its sovereign parliament, its independent judiciary, its neutral civil service. But the Brexit referendum created an alternative centre of power: the people. Rather than their loyalty to the constitution, institutions are now judged according to their loyalty to the demos (nearly half of whom voted Remain).
Leavers tried to stop parliament voting on whether to trigger Article 50 (and denounced the judges who made the ruling) and they tried to deny MPs a “meaningful vote” on the final deal. And Leavers have long accused the civil service of seeking to “sabotage” and “undermine” Brexit (just as Tony Benn warned Whitehall was thwarting socialism in the 1970s). But no government minister has done so with the effrontery of Steve Baker.
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