The Name Norman Lamont

I've been watching a lot of old documentaries about British politics recently. Yesterday I watched one from 1997 about Black Wednesday - this was when the British pound crashed as it tried to survive inside the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM).

I was only ten years old back in 1992 when it happened, so it's one of those things I was vaguely aware of in childhood, but with no real understanding of what it actually was. Anyway, as I watched yesterday it was interesting to note that many of the people in favour of staying in the ERM at the time are the same faces that are highly pro-remain in regard Brexit now. Kenneth Clarke, John Major, Michael Heseltine.

Poor Norman Lamont, who seemed less enthusiastic and was Chancellor at the time, got a bit of a rum deal. Again, as a child the name Norman Lamont was familiar, in a vague sort of way. It was a name I often overheard on TV or in adult conversation. Then later as a teenager when I began to become more politically aware myself it was a frequently occurring name on shows like Have I Got News For You. Where often the mere mention of the name alone would inspire laughter. I didn't fully get the reference, but it was easy enough to understand that he was a Tory politician who messed up the economy in a big way.

Returning to today we now have stories in the press that Kenneth Clarke could become Prime Minister as part of the efforts to thwart Brexit. Watching the documentary yesterday it became even more clear to me that for people like Kenneth Clarke and John Major European integration is their defining political ideology. Rightly or wrongly these politicians believe in this project to the extent that nothing can shake it. Not Black Wednesday, not the huge economic problems seen in Greece and elsewhere. Not the single biggest vote in British history.