Delusional, desperate and mostly called David, Brexiters gather to lament the Great Betrayal | John Crace

"Those we haven't loved. It's been nearly a decade since the Brexit referendum and the main architects seem to have gone quiet. Boris Johnson has retreated into his own world having been rejected by the real one. Still wondering why David Cameron hadn't left him detailed instructions of what to do if the UK left the EU. Nigel Farage is happy to talk about almost anything but Brexit. And where his money comes from and how it's spent."

"These were the men and women of the Freedom Association who had gathered in Westminster for their Brexit Unleashed conference. The weirdos. The misfits. The losers. The mostly elderly desperados who cling to the certainty they were right all along. Untroubled by all the evidence to the contrary. Unaware that many of their arguments contradict one another. That all that they want to be true cannot all be true. Entwined with one another in a death spiral. This church hall was a place where hope came to die."

"The proceedings were opened by David Campbell Bannerman, former MEP and lifelong Brexiter. A man clinging to reality by a gossamer thread. He began by praising the UK for having had the integrity to leave the EU, despite knowing there would be some pain and cost as a result. So that's what it was. I can't remember anyone on the leave side talking about pain at the time. Rather it was that everything was going to be great. There was no downside."

"David Davis had always said the Brexit deal would be the easiest ever. Wrapped up in 24 hours. Two minutes in and we got the first Brexit betrayal. A theme that was to be repeated every two minutes for the next six hours. Brexit had been a wonderful thing that had been undermined by a political class who had never believed in it. Even the ones who had believed in it, hadn't believed in it in the right k"

Nearly a decade after the Brexit referendum, prominent Brexit figures are described as having withdrawn from public view, with Boris Johnson rejected and David Cameron and Nigel Farage portrayed as avoiding direct accountability. A small group of committed Brexit believers gathered in Westminster for a “Brexit Unleashed” conference organized by the Freedom Association. Attendees are characterized as elderly and determined to remain certain they were right despite contrary evidence and internal contradictions. The event is opened by David Campbell Bannerman, a former MEP and lifelong Brexiter, who praises the UK for leaving the EU with integrity while acknowledging expected pain and cost. The narrative contrasts earlier claims that Brexit would be great with later claims of betrayal and undermining by political elites.

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