If you thought a Week was a long time in politics

I started to ‘live blog’ the referendum last night but couldn’t keep up with a blog and Twitter and Facebook as well as try to watch the BBC coverage. I gave up with my last post claiming that Cameron was safe because 85 Tory MPs had written to urge him to stay. Shows how much I know. 

So during today I have been responding to calls and trying to keep up with the pace of change. I have to admit having seen the polling last night – and the surge in the £ allegedly off the back of some very expensive City exit polls – I assumed like most that this referendum had gone to the wire but would ultimately split 52/48 but in favour of Remain. I had said all the way through the campaign that this was enough for victory but the issue wouldn’t go away with that level of support. We would have to be revisiting the issue of our relationship with Europe on a regular basis. Even if we won the question had not been put to bed. However, I woke up to the shock news like I am sure millions of people have done today that we are to #leave.

I think I am still too raw and numb to write too much that will hit the right tone. I know campaigns are tough and things get said but Farage andhis 

racist poster and his £350m for the NHS lies angered me more than any usual political knockabout. I was livid that this morning even Farage said the £350m wasn’t now going to happen and had been a ‘mistake’. Farage is really one of the most odious and duplicitous politicians I have ever come across. 

But today we are where we are. The Leave campaign narrowly won but all they needed was a simple majority because no percentage bar was set. That was a mistake. How on earth we can take such a big decision when there is such a slim majority I simply don’t know. It means there is nearly half the country pretty angry about the result. As I said above the Leave campaign would have been back again if they had lost so narrowly so I hope they accept that there are many of us who don’t accept this narrow narrative that the “people have spoken” – yes but not all that clearly! 

There are now so many ramifications it has been almost impossible to keep up. 

Just as quickly as Leave won they started back tracking on any promises. But the theme of my feelings over the last 24 hours have been about the deep seated level of division this leaves. I started yesterday promising myself I wouldn’t get involved in social media and watch the England Rugby in Australia instead. In truth I couldn’t hold back. There was an still is so much to say. 

SO issues to be covered in more depth are the levels of division, the breakup of the U.K., our economic woes to come, the Tory party turmoil, and who our next PM is likely to be? Perhaps the most important element is what we do about our negotiations with Europe. The domestic issue of division is serious. We are split by class, education, age and geography. It’s is serious as we have heard on any radio phone in programme over the last 48 hours. 

However just as I thought I might find some time this morning to summarise all my thoughts I have woken up to hear that Corbyn has sacked Hilary Benn.  Now I will be following the civil war inside the Labour PArty as well as the Tories and a divided nation.