Straw men tussle for power

Newsnight is slowly getting the hang of doing ideology. Tonight we had two possible models of the post-Brexit UK, one where the UK turned into Singapore, and the other where it looked like Europe again. The first one would not be nice and social-liberal, but the second one would show how silly we had all been in voting to leave. Evan Davies was delighted to point that out to us. He has been chuckling all along that there is no clear plan, and getting cross with people who would not just opt for one of his alternatives.

Where did these scenarios come from? Last time I heard of the Singapore option it was a possible future being considered by Mrs Thatcher. Someone on Newsnight had thought of it while considering the contradictions in Theresa May's speech -- here was a Tory offering social justice, equality of opportunity and all that, and Evan mouthed someone's view that this was a rejection of Thatcherite neo-liberalism in favour of social liberalism. This handy dichotomy was used to structure the item on Brexit futures, although Evan insisted it had been put to him by some Brexiteers. 

The BBC has long abandoned any idea that it might offer typical views or a range of views of course. A couple of nights ago we had opinions voiced by some people they had talked to. It wasn't scientific, Evan assured us, but it was offered nonetheless, so he must have thought it had some validity. We were not given even the basics like how many people were interviewed, and there was obviously no need for balance.

However, there was a substantial change tonight in the discussions. Two Brexiteers appeared! One was introduced as a pro-Brexit economist (I thought there weren't any of them). Another was Charles Moore, former editor of the Daily Telegraph, a pro-Brexit newspaper. However, they were not allowed to discuss Brexit but had to confine themselves to Evan's structure about the contradictions in May's speech. Nevertheless, the Brexit economist did manage to challenge Evan's view that a serious model was the Singapore option -- Evan just asserted he was right and that it had indeed been presented to him/them.

He wasn't allowed to challenge much else. Evan didn't want to fight the Brexit campaign again (certainly not with a Brexit economist), although he has been fighting it every night,of course,smuggling it in on almost every item. Unlike the other three speakers who were there to balance (!) him, the economist blokey was vigorously interrupted after getting out one sentence.

In the other discussion, C Moore was balanced (!) by 3 studio guests, including a despairing Matthew Parrish who could only mock the silly people who had thought there was an option outside Europe, much as does Evan Davies. As the dissenter, Moore was not in the studio. Ideally for ideological purposes, he should have been out in the street, but they skyped him in his own (luxurious) home so he could come over as an out-of-touch aristo.