ECONOMIC disruption, Scottish secessionism and now overheated talk of a small war with Spain: Brexit has yet to happen and already it is causing Britain quite some inconvenience. Yet settling the question of Britain’s place in Europe was unavoidable, according to David Cameron, who popped up last week to defend his decision to call the referendum in 2016 (in which, as prime minister, he led the failed campaign to remain in the European Union). Holding the vote was necessary, he said, “because this issue had been poisoning British politics for years.”

But it hadn’t. Concern about Europe is certainly elevated—indeed, in March it was at the highest level ever recorded by the monthly Economist/Ipsos-MORI survey of British public opinion, which first asked the question in 1974. But look back to before Mr Cameron called the referendum and it is a different story. For most of the decade up to his announcement, the percentage of people citing Europe as one of the main issues facing the country was in the single digits.

It was certainly a big deal for his Conservative Party, which has a noisy Eurosceptic wing and feared losing votes to the Eurosceptic UK Independence Party in the election of 2015. But for most voters it was near the bottom of their concerns. Far from settling some burning national question, Mr Cameron’s referendum took a non-issue and turned it into one which—to borrow his words—really could poison British politics for years.