Cast your mind back to what was, even by recent standards, an especially weird and constipated period in British politics when the electorate had voted to leave the European Union but the politicians couldn’t agree on how to do it. For almost four years, from 2016 to 2020, the country was in agonising limbo, stuck somewhere between separation and divorce, as it became clear that Brexit was far more complex and intractable than a simple yes/no vote suggested.
While the nation grew increasingly more divided and embittered, one of the most vocal politicians calling for a second clarifying referendum was Anna Soubry, the former Conservative minister and, at the time, MP for Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire. She was telegenic, opinionated but also aiming to build a cross-party and popular consensus among those who believed they’d been sold a pup by the leave campaign.
