Opinion: Brexit chaos is the fault of absolutely everyone except the people who actually voted for it

There are many people whom it is possible to blame for the shambles that Brexit has become: quisling traitors, remoaners, deep-state operatives, incompetent politicians, high court judges, so-called ‘experts’, academics…the list goes on.

However, there is one group who it would be unreasonable to expect to bear any responsibility whatsoever for the consequences of their actions: the people who actually voted for all of this.

This brave, plucky band could not have been expected to realise that the complex process of unpicking four decades of complex negotiated treaties against a strict deadline without doing serious and lasting harm to the very people and land they claim to love would be difficult. After all, the country has experts who can do that sort of thing, even if nobody really rates them very much these days.

Victory in the 2016 referendum required common cause being made between many groups with contradictory objectives and visions of what the future would hold. It is the fault of those who did not vote for it that these groups did not work together to create a unifying vision and plan to present to the nation, and it is the fault of those who did not vote for it that such a plan was not implemented.

Some moaning minnies and cowards have pointed out that the Leave campaign had no idea whatsoever what to do next, but they should not be held responsible for that. Rather, it is vital that the nation point the finger of blame at the people who should apologise – the people who didn’t vote for this.

In any victory, it is important that the victors show the defeated good grace and generosity in order to win hearts and minds, and the rallying call of ‘You lost, get over it’ marked the high point of efforts to convert waverers and the undecided. When this good-natured and well-meant rallying call was rejected; when people were called traitors if they did not ‘just believe’ as they were repeatedly instructed to do by wellwishers on the internet, it can hardly be the people who voted for this who are to blame.

As parliament grinds to a halt and the country descends into factional squabbling remember – if you did not vote for this then it is your fault, you whiny remoaning snowflake.