Will ‘performative Europeanness’ end on Brexit day?

The Rubicon has almost been crossed, the die has almost been cast and whatever other choice phrases from European history spring to mind. As we leave the European Union, to the cheers of the 52 per cent and the tears of the 48, what most interests me as a reluctant Remainer is how, or indeed whether, it will affect our collective national sense of Europeanness. In certain – London, metropolitan – quarters, this somewhat elusive quality has been getting an exhaustive airing and we may well need to brace ourselves for a further mass outbreak of EU flag waving in the coming weeks.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the last three and a half years has been the rise of what I have taken to calling ‘performative Europeanness’. You’ll have seen the phenomenon in action, for sure, from the EU flag pins that have crept onto lapels everywhere to the full-on sporting of those blue-with-gold-stars berets.