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Saturday 30 March 2019

The Brexiteers' Excursions into the Military

Just as a sidelight observation, isn't it odd how many of the Tory MPs, especially the hardline Brexit people, seem to constantly appeal to military metaphors.  MPs with actual military experience (such as Dan Jarvis) don't seem to do this, but one frequently finds it with people like David Davis, Mark Francois and Steve Baker.

Steve Baker's odd speech as reported apparently had the ERG as calling themselves Spartans, a reference I presume to Thermopylae.  A more historically aware knowledge of Spartans would lead Mr Baker to know that they were actually a highly militarised aristocracy who enslaved their fellow Greeks, the Helots, and lived off their Labour.  Mark Francois appealed to his military training with the Territorials to say he "wasn't trained to lose", although  I thought the ability to conduct an orderly withdrawal is widely considered a valuable and necessary skill.  David Davis seems to have a similar weakness for Thermopylae.  They each appear to see themselves as heroes in some drama in their own heads.

Still they did avoid the mistake of yesterday's Leave marchers who headed their parade with a group of standard bearers wearing a militaristic uniform in which a black shirt seemed to be a key part of the uniform, a bit like another historic movement.  

The whole mind set seems to become very defensive, seeing everything as a test of will, and is probably not helpful in negotiations with anyone, let along negotiating with the EU.

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