By Gwynne Dyer – There is a tension at the heart of populist political parties that may ultimately lead most of them to electoral defeat. They depend heavily on the votes of the old, the poor and the poorly educated — “I love the poorly educated,” as Donald Trump once put it — but they are also right-wing parties that do not like what they call “socialism.” (Other people call it the welfare state.)
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker says he believes Brexit will go ahead and the EU should tackle its looming budget shortfall. Don't believe those who say that it's not going to happen and that people in the UK have realized their error... I don't think that's going to be the case, he told a Brussels conference.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable has defended plans to use his party’s strength in the House of Lords to fight Brexit, even though he views the unelected chamber as a “bad system” that he did not want to be a member of. Sir Vince said the Lords had limited political impact, but the upper house should be used to check an “abuse of powers” by the Government.