The bottom line: Wiggling buttocks enliven existential hell of Brexit debate
The people finally got
to have their say on the government’s Brexitdeal. In
parliament, no less. And what they had to say was that they wanted to take
almost all their kit off and protest against climate change instead. Time management. They
probably reckoned there was more chance of the world’s politicians agreeing on
plans to save the planet than anyone coming up with a Brexit solution that the
government was prepared to implement.
The protest began
three-quarters of an hour into the latest iteration of the indicative vote
process, aka IV2, with 12 men and women in the public gallery stripping down to
their pants to reveal climate change slogans on bodies that were far from
beach-ready. Well, almost all of them. One bloke either lost his bottle or
suddenly realised he had come out dressed commando and chose to keep his
trousers on. Spoilsport.
Most rushed to the
front and glued their hands to the glass barrier, while a woman, daubed in grey
body paint and wearing a pair of elephant ears and trunk, indulged in some
unusual interpretive dance. The police were called but didn’t seem entirely
sure where to look. Or touch. So what followed was a very awkward, very British
standoff. In its way, the perfect Brexit statement.
The dirty dozen would
occasionally self-consciously wiggle their bums and then stop, as if waiting
for something to happen. Knowing how to end a protest is always much harder
than starting one. The police initially appeared to just hope the men and women
would get bored and wander off, but once they realised they were going to have
to get hands-on, a few officers reluctantly rolled up their sleeves....
