DAVID SKELTON: On EU referendum night in June 2016, the breaking news of an emphatic Leave vote in Sunderland suddenly made the political Establishment aware that things were not going its way. Similarly resounding votes followed in town after town, and it was clear that the working class was driving a shuddering rebuke to the political, cultural and business elite. The entire Establishment had lined up behind the Remain campaign. So once Sunderland's Leave vote became clear, social media brimmed with righteous indignation. Remain supporters fumed about 'ignorant idiots' from places described by as 's***holes' who were 'stealing our future'. As dozens more places, including my home town of Consett in County Durham, delivered equally trenchant verdicts, the class hatred became more and more virulent. Pictured left: Hundreds of St George flags festooned on the Kirby estate in Bermondsey, South London, last week in support of England at the Euro 2020 tournament; and bottom right: David Skelton's paternal grandfather Percy, a foreman fitter in a steelworks, holding David's father, right, and a family friend.
