Brexiters are often accused of living in the past. That is manifest in the now recurring Brexiter response to concerns about Brexit: ‘but we did perfectly well before’.

Brexit marks a seemingly decisive pivot away from Europe. This decision dominated not by a view of the future, but by a view of the past bears striking resemblance to the geopolitical blunders of Munich and Suez, the consequences of which were the opposite of those intended.