Hannan, now a right-wing commentator and MEP, has been described as “the man who brought you Brexit” and is, by all accounts, a remarkable character. According to a fellow student at Oriel college, Oxford, his obsession with leaving the EU was matched only by his interest in magic, and in the occultist Aleister Crowley. One evening, we are told, he was convinced that he would win the election for president of the Conservative club, as he had cast all of the right spells. He returned to his room that night, baffled at having lost, only to discover that a key candle had gone out.Of course, Dan was much younger then, little more than a boy wizard. But it's hard to escape the impression that Brexit is still best understood in terms of magical incantation and propitiatory sacrifice ("a belief that you must leave a customs union with your overwhelmingly biggest trading partner so you can seek inferior trade agreements with other more distant countries", presumably because the sacrifice is pleasing to Aiwass, the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat, or something like that).
Given the advanced magic it would take to bewitch the UK's vastly more powerful negotiating partner into allowing the UK to leave the EU club with a bespoke deal that's just as good as membership, I guess DExEU's been stocking up on long-life black candles. If that doesn't work, they'll probably move on to drawing a pentagram on the floor in cat's blood.
If I were Larry, the 10 Downing Street cat, I'd keep my head down...
* Not to be confused with the children's entertainer and balloon modeller of the same name.
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