‘We will never return, there is no going back’: the Brexit Day party, as it happened

Remainers were there too. The first people I met at the Brexit Day festivities were opposed to the whole idea. I found them on Westminster Bridge, a man and his wife, posing with an EU flag. When the man spoke his voice faltered as if his pet spaniel had just died. ‘I married a German woman. I’ve been brought up to tolerate other cultures and lifestyles.’ I asked which of the many crises outlined by Project Fear would strike us first. ‘Economic slump,’ he said. Will Britain ever re-join? ‘Maybe in two generations.’

A couple with a toddler spotted the EU flag and joined us for a chat. They’d planned to enlist in a Remain Fightback Demo and were dismayed by the poor turnout. The father was a barrister from Gray’s Inn who assured me that ‘crime’ would be the first post-Brexit disaster. ‘As of 11pm tonight there are 17 German sex-offenders who can no longer be extradited to the UK.’