Brexit: what will Boris do? Bottle it, most likely

As the Brexit camp tears itself apart with philosophical quandaries over what Thatcher would have done, it should focus on a more present figure

Is it just bad luck that there is so much feuding within the Brexit camp before David Cameron’s hoped-for 23 June referendum? Is it bad luck that assorted out champions can’t even agree what Margaret Thatcher would have done, or persuade Boris Johnson off the safety fence?

Of course not. Factionalism and backstabbing is central to the project. Campaigns which cannot agree why it’s so important – to them, but not to most voters – for Britain to shake off the colonial yoke of Brussels, let alone what should be done next – find it easier (and more fun) to denounce each other’s failures of policy and personality. Freud called it the “narcissism of small difference”.

Related: I’ve no idea what Margaret Thatcher would have said – but then I’m not a mawkish Tory| Marina Hyde

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