Blunkett or Bianca?

Two more members of the elite have popped their heads above the parapet on Brexit and Article 50.

David Blunkett, respected former Labour MP and more formally Baron Blunkett, of Brightside and Hillsborough, argued, with a heavy heart as a passionate Remain voter, that the argument is over and the Lords should vote for Article 50 without strings. "It is not in any sense acceptable to use the debate to block Article 50, thereby undermining the straightforward legislation which arose from the Supreme Court decision last month, that Parliament should have a final say on Brexit. It is not acceptable... for the House of Lords to determine that Britain should or should not remain a member of the single market.... if we believe in democracy it is the will of the people, not the predilections of those in positions of authority which must prevail."

And the other person was Bianca Jagger, who demanded that Theresa May give Parliament the power to block an "unpatriotic Brexit".   The former Rolling Stone's wife is a Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador (eh? I don't understand how come either). She has dual nationality, naturalised British and her original nationality of Nicaraguan. I find it hard to say anything that isn't intensely unpleasant, so I will resist. But no doubt Twitter has already done it for me.

In case you were wondering, her ex-husband doesn't think Brexit will make a huge difference to the UK. He said before the referendum that Brexit could be beneficial for the UK in the long (20 year-ish) term, though probably detrimental in the short term. He suggested in April that David Cameron was already regretting going for the referendum. One can see why a Tory political adviser described Jagger, who correctly told said adviser that the Tories would win the 2015 general election a month before it, as "one of the savviest political observers I've come across". He had discovered at a dinner that Jagger had been a bit of a "political junkie" his whole life. I hadn't realised that, though I knew that he's a cricket buff. For what it's worth his summary of Brexit is very similar to what I have always thought, though I expect the transition to be more difficult.

It won't surprise you to know I'm with Blunkett and not Mick's ex; I suspect he has a better understanding of democracy.

"I fought heart and soul for Remain. But we Lords must NOT defy the people's will", David Blunkett, Daily Mail 21 February 2017. Bianca Jagger's views were noted in the paper on the same day and can be seen in the scurrilous Ephraim Hardcastle column at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-4243842. Interestingly the Blunkett column is not on mailonline, obviously too serious for it.

I read about Mick Jagger in the NME (April 2016: http://www.nme.com/news/music/mick-jagger-2-1195656) though his pre-referendum views on Brexit were in an interview with Sky News