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How would that work? First, Remainers need to recognize the opportunities offered by total defeat. The debate over whether we should Brexit is over. It is happening. The fight will now be on much easier political ground: How is Brexit going? [...]
The debate on how Brexit is going will be much easier. There are few propositions more convincing to the British public, on any subject, than the idea that the government is making a mess of things.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson's overwhelming electoral victory last December will make it hard for him to blame anyone else for what comes next. His majority is substantial. He cannot blame parliament for getting in his way. It is all on him. His total victory creates total responsibility.
He could have used that freedom to be straight with the British public about what followed: that the trade talks with the EU would take time and involve painful trade-offs. He has not done this. Instead, he passed legislation mandating a short negotiation and he has continued to insist, against all the evidence, that there will be no friction in trade between Britain and Northern Ireland.
That comes with certain repercussions. A quick, bare-bones trade deal restricts it to tariff elimination, at most. That means there is unlikely to be much provision for regulatory alignment, customs procedure minimization or rules-of-origin deals. Bureaucracy will slow down trade with the EU, with a potentially devastating impact on Britain's “just-in-time” manufacturing arrangements. [...]
Basically, the places most likely to feel the hurt from the deal Johnson wants are precisely those Labour-supporting areas that lent him their vote in the December election. The places Labour needs to win back are those most exposed to the failure of the upcoming trade negotiations.
Even now, it's not too late to avert the damage to those regions. All that is required is a sensible negotiating timetable with the EU and a commitment to alignment in areas where diverging would harm the U.K. But that, for now at least, does not appear to be government policy. Chancellor Sajid Javid has made clear that there will be no alignment at all, seemingly on anything.
The “Rejoin” strategy is therefore very simple. Make sure Johnson fully owns the negotiation. Ensure the link between the negotiation and its effects on regular Brits dominates the media narrative.
That requires a Labour Party that, while not actively in favor of rejoining the EU at the moment, remains fundamentally pro-European and is capable of holding Johnson to account for his dealings with the EU.
Some people think this is impossible. Johnson is too slippery. Voters are no longer going to pay attention to Brexit. The Conservatives will blame the EU for the result of the talks, aided by a supportive press and a nervous BBC. They accept that we operate in a post-truth climate, in which it is impossible to make the link between political actions and their consequences.
That is a testimony of despair — not just for Brexit, but for the manner in which politics is conducted in general. The reality is that it can be done. And any intelligent political campaign can do it. [...]