Steve Hilton coming out so strongly for Brexit is important for two reasons. First, it is a reminder that the idea that, within the Tory party, this referendum is the modernisers versus the right is far too crude. There are Tory modernisers on both sides of this argument. Indeed, given the importance of localism to Tory modernisation and its appreciation that there’s a difference between being pro-big business and pro-market, there are thoroughly modernising reasons for wanting the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.
Hilton also details how it was the experience of government that tipped many Tories into backing Brexit. It was the discovery of just how much the European Union limited what they could do in office that made them believe that the UK should leave. As Hilton puts it, on coming into government in 2010 the Tories were ‘little prepared for the sheer scale’ of the constraints that the EU imposes. Hilton’s own audit found that only 30 percent of what the government was doing actually related to the coalition’s programme for government, the rest came from within the bureaucracy—and the majority of that was EU-inspired.
Putting the Tory party back together again after the referendum will not be easy. But Hilton’s declaration today is a reminder that this referendum isn’t a vote on what you think about Tory modernisation or David Cameron. Rather, it is about how this country can be best governed.
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