So the day is finally here that only a minority of the country voted for, yet our rubbish first-past-the-post system allowed to happen. There has been some muted jingoism but more nerves it seems. This is understandable, because both Boris and Brexit will fail.

Brexit will fail because the much vaunted ‘freedom’ is nothing more than an illusion, as was the ‘oppression’ of the EU in the first place. On the point of why Boris will fail? It is because he is a populist and populism always fails. By fail do we mean lose power? That is harder to say. Populists fail yet keep power all the time yet cling to power. But on the promises that were made, on making the lives of us ordinary people better, on the bright light of a new post-Brexit dawn; that is where Boris will fail.

To give more details as to how Boris fail; Populism has a number of defining characteristics that are intrinsic to its rise, yet all lead to its fall. One of the divisiveness that it uses to gain power for it needs an ‘enemy’ – an other to point at in fear and hate; minorities, Muslims, Remainders, the urban dwellers, experts, feminists, environmentalists, anarchists, socialists and so on. It makes the ‘other’ an enemy to fear, so binding a sizeable base that can be used to bludgeon their way to power. But in the process it ends up with disunity. It has lost the experts for the complex systems it promised to simplify, it has lost the majority for a painful reforms it wants to push, it has lost the diversity of opinion that guards against groupthink. All these weaken its ability to actually govern in any meaningful way.

Then on top of this, populism leaves an ideological vacuum, for most populists just want power and care little about the values they claim to champion on their way to grasp it. Yet in that vacuum comes the financial predators who rework the government finances to enrich themselves and their friends. That process loots and weakens the systems that feed into government – from tax collection to trust in government – which further weaken populism’s ability to govern in any meaningful way.

On top of this there is the cronyism, for populism repels competence and attracts hucksters. Some are repelled at the distaste of what they are asked to do, so many former technocrats, experts and administrators that normally keep the engines of government ticking over and give it capacity to take on new challenges, flee the sinking ship. Into the vacuum come the hucksters looking to make a fast buck notable only for a lack of talent and a predilection to bend or break the law. This robs populism’s ability to event attempt to fulfil a fraction of the promises made that got them into power – which further weaken populism’s ability to govern in any meaningful way.

We are only a few weeks into a re-elected Boris’s rule and they’ve already abandoned the pledge to drop austerity, got into a mess over the 5G Huawei, had to backtrack on the divergence of EU regulations, made noises about weakening employment protections and food standards plus had to backtrack on the promise of no border checks between Northern Ireland and the UK.

So as the promises fall away, as the light at the end of the Brexit tunnel turns out to the an oncoming train, Boris will be left is nothing to show for all the power he’s taken except a bunch of richer cronies. Where can he go from there? HE’ll still want power and he can only keep it by finding a new enemy; for once again by using hate, fear and division he can attempt to hold on to power. For that will be all that is left once the Brexit tank is empty and the Boris bus is dry. We must be ready to fight that.

Brexit Day is the high point for Boris as it’s all downhill from there and we should help by giving him a shove.

We must use his collapse to build a world for all of us.

(Pic credits – Peter Brookes & ByDonkeys)