In his latest Lowdown podcast, Nick Cohen interviews Roland Smith, one of the few Brexit supporters who has publicly admitted the Brexit project was a mistake. Roland discusses how British right-wing politics has descended into a purity spiral since 2016, with no senior conservative politicians acknowledging failures in Brexit or austerity policies. He explains that right-wing figures genuinely believe they haven't gone far enough with their policies rather than admitting mistakes, and that the entire movement has been radicalised into extreme positions through an echo chamber effect. Roland and Nick discuss how journalists like Boris Johnson and Michael Gove led Brexit rather than proper politicians, how the Conservative Party has been pulled ever rightwards, and how no one can operate within right-wing circles and admit Brexit was wrong without losing their entire social network. They discuss how this radicalisation has cost the Conservatives traditional support in former strongholds, with seats like Chesham and Amersham switching to Liberal Democrats, yet the party continues moving in an extreme direction under leaders like Kemi Badenoch.

Roland Smith @rolandmcs is a Fellow of the Adam Smith Institute and author of "The Liberal Case for Leave", made the case for the EEA [European Economic Area] - a so-called "soft Brexit" which would have left the UK in the Single Market back in 2016. He has since publicly opposed the hard Brexit agreed by Boris Johnson's government. Roland also has his own regular Substack column, Soft Landing, that regularly explores the UK's troubled relationship with the EU

Nick Cohen's @NickCohen4 regular Substack column Writing from London on politics and culture from the UK and beyond is another must read

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