The Great Divide: Britain in Turmoil 2015-20

The lecture will look at the background to arguably the most contentious issue in British political and social life for a generation and seek to explain why in the referendum held on 23 June 2016 51.9% of the British electorate opted to leave the European Community after being a member of it since 1973. Surprising though the result was to many commentators, analysts and voters, research on what happened back in 2015-16 really confirms that the alliance of Euroscepticism and populism was a much stronger force than many of us had imagined in advance of the referendum.
Overall, therefore, my lecture is designed to demonstrate why the appeal of the ‘Leave’ camp trumped its opponents’ arguments and why those in ‘Remain’ didn’t get their act together.
Given what we know now, however, should any of us have been really so surprised by what took place back in the mid-summer of 2016?