The very best impressionists do not simply mimic the mannerisms, speech patterns and facial expressions of their targets — they also cleverly satirise the beliefs, character and political dispositions of those targets. Most of us would not remember Mike Yarwood with great fondness because he was quite unable to do any of that. It was enough for Mike simply to raise his shoulders and laugh when evoking Ted Heath; there was no depth to the performance, nothing which gnawed away at Heath’s petulance and obstinacy and insecurity.
So we should be grateful for Rory Bremner, who has pulled off a superb impression of a smug, simpering, Remainer London luvvie. With great acuity, he ticked all the boxes. In professing his support for the ‘People’s Vote’ — the campaign for a second referendum — the comedian wrote in this magazine last week that: ‘People may object this is a betrayal of democracy. I believe it would be an affirmation of informed democracy. There can be no doubt that we are better informed and more aware of the issues than we were in 2016.’
This is brilliant because they voted Remain. They knew everything, and still do. The luvvies believe it is the Leavers who were ill-informed — thick, stupid, pig-ignorant northerners, tattooed untermenschen. Come on, you morons! Off to the ballot box again, and this time get it right. In that short paragraph Bremner neatly sent up the whole basis of the People’s Vote. (I half-wonder what Rory really thinks, but it is sometimes better for impressionists to conceal their own political beliefs and thus avoid tiresome accusations of bias from the viewers.)
The People’s Vote and its sister campaigns are a convocation of those luvvies Bremner lampooned, plus some of the country’s most serially useless and reviled politicians.
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