With the outcome of the June 23 Brexit referendum eliciting reactions of surprise, delight, angst and despair across Britain, Europe and indeed the world, it is timely to take the long historical perspective to understand some of the reasons why a majority of British voters chose to leave the EU. Some of the roots of the British public’s present discontent with the European juggernaut were identified by Sir Robert Menzies in 1970. His prescient insights will be explored in detail later. Amidst the attempts of some commentators to oversimplify the historic vote as a “peasant revolt against the London elites”,…