The Daily Mail’s pro-Brexit front page won’t do the damage they hope it will
The pro-Brexit press has not been slow to ham up its angst over anyone who dares to question the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
Just a few months after the vote to leave, the Daily Mail was railing against “Bremoaners and their plot to subvert the will of the British people”. The Daily Express, meanwhile, announced that it was “Time to silence EU exit whingers” and to “forget arrogant Remainers”.
When the high court ruled that Article 50 could only be triggered by an Act of Parliament, the Mail responded with an astonishing front page describing the three judges as “Enemies of the people”. The Sun piled in too, asking: “Who do EU think you are?”
Just last month, the Daily Telegraph branded Tory rebels “The Brexit mutineers” on a front page which featured portrait shots of the 15 MPs who had voted against the Government on the question of enshrining the date of Britain’s EU departure in law. One of the rebels, Anna Soubry, described the incident as a “blatant piece of bullying”.
Following the Government’s defeat on the so-called “Grieve amendment”, the Mail has used the same formula. Featuring images of the 11 Conservatives who voted to secure a meaningful parliamentary vote on the final Brexit deal, the front page asks (rhetorically one imagines): “Proud of yourselves?” It also, in case you were wondering what the answer ought to be, describes the wicked 11 as “self-consumed malcontents” who have decided to “betray their leader, party and 17.4 million Brexit voters”.
On the plus side, media front pages like these have led to some terrific social media pastiches. One re-imagining of today’s Mail splash – by Mollie Goodfellow, formerly of this parish – saw the headline transformed to “Proud of our elves”.