ALWAYS READ THE SMALL PRINT BEFORE YOU SIGN: Or before you vote. The embarrassment that is Iain Duncan Smith has finally realised that he voted for something whose devil was in the detail.
It’s taken eight months for Smith to get around to reading the Withdrawal Agreement. An Agreement he voted for with great enthusiasm at the time. And an Agreement so perfect that he voted against giving parliament extra time to examine it.
In fact the Agreement is full of little firecrackers that the broad brush Brexiters couldn’t be bothered to brush up on.
This self own will only serve to increase Smith’s already impressive unpopularity. Smith is admitting that he either did not read the Agreement, did not understand it, or did not consider its implications. Possibly all three.
In this instance, he perfectly fulfils the Brexiter stereotype. Big, impressive rhetoric connected to an absolute refusal to do the necessary work or refer to known facts.
Leavers knew what they voted for, we are told constantly. Until, like Smith, you do a cursory amount of investigation into the Brexit claims, and find the unicorn you were promised is actually a pig in a poke.
These two stances are contradictory. You either know, or you don’t. Smith is caught on the horns of a paradox, in which he simultaneously knew and didn’t know what he was voting for.
That’s Brexit, of course. A delusion married to a paradox and wrapped up in a contradiction. You can’t have your cake and eat it. In fact there is no cake at all, just a bitter pill and humble pie for afters.
You won, Iain Duncan Smith. So suck it up, get over it, and if you don’t like it you can leave. So long as you have your shiny new black French made Blue Passport and a visa to get you into Kent to get yourself onto a ferry or the Eurostar.
After all, you knew what you voted for, even if you didn’t.