ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on contending conceptions of democracy among political representatives in Great Britain, as revealed in the debate about Brexit. It begins with an overview of contradictory discourses about Brexit in the academic and public debates, subjecting conflicting interpretations to evidence from survey data. It then turns to hone in on a crucial debate that took place in the House of Commons on 27 March 2019, in relation to an eleventh-hour attempt by Members of Parliament to seize control of the process of Brexit from Theresa May’s government, by holding a series of indicative votes on a set of alternatives to the prime minister’s hard-fought “deal” for an orderly withdrawal from the European Union. The chapter emphasises the tendency among representatives on all sides of the debate to defer to the “will of the people”, as allegedly expressed in a variety of different indicators, and highlights their hesitancy to embrace their constitutionally recognised role as leaders, even at the moment that they sought to “take back control” of the Brexit process. It draws the conclusion that Brexit is not only a manifestation of resurgent “xeno-racism” among the populous, but simultaneously expresses and reflects a crisis of “democratic leadership”.
