Pankaj Mishra, Columnist

A Bonkers U.K. Establishment Drags Everyone Down

“Brexit is a symptom, the most ominous yet, of a broader crisis of elite credibility and legitimacy.”

March 24, 2019 at 5:00 AM UTC

By Pankaj Mishra

Pankaj Mishra is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is author, most recently, of “Run and Hide.”

When will they realize that their day has come and gone?
Photographer: DE AGOSTINI PICTURE LIBRARY/De Agostini Editorial

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Shortly after the U.K. voted to leave the European Union in June, 2016, I wrote that the decision represents a “collective suicide bombing” by an incestuous, big-headed, indulged British elite.

Prime Minister Theresa May seems to have completed this self-destruction, maniacally blowing up whatever shreds of credibility this elite had preserved. As she turned to denouncing the U.K. Parliament last week for failing to pass an EU withdrawal plan while simultaneously resolving not to leave without one, a cabinet aide told the Guardian that she and the people around her “have all taken leave of their senses.”