Inside Europe: Ten Years of Turmoil reveals just how we got in this mess, but Cameron remains conspicuous by his absence

As we hurtle, lemming-like, towards the cliff edge of Brexit, there are more and more TV programmes offering a serious analysis of how we got here.
David Cameron (right) with  Angela Merkel and Jean-Claude JunckerDavid Cameron (right) with  Angela Merkel and Jean-Claude Juncker
David Cameron (right) with Angela Merkel and Jean-Claude Juncker

This week, Inside Europe: Ten Years of Turmoil (BBC2, Mondays, 9pm) attempted to shed some light on the lead-up to the EU referendum in 2016, and how then Prime Minister, David Cameron, backed himself into a corner, from where the only option was turn round and brain himself on the wall.

This absorbing programme traced the growing dungheap of Brexit, from the moment David Cameron took office in the coalition government of 2010, harangued on all sides by members of his own party, the snarling, relentless self-publicists of UKIP and a press driven into an anti-immigrant froth.

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His desperate attempts to mollify these people meant that, in trying to unite his party, he successfully split the entire country.

With each trip to Europe, promising much, but achieving little, he emboldened the Eurosceptics – not realising that if he gave them an inch, they would take a mile (imperial measures, of course).

And by putting on an ‘Iron Lady’ front, he also antagonised his counterparts in Europe. As the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, said: “No one has an appetite in Europe for a revolution because of a stupid referendum. If you try to push us, you will lose everything.”

Tusk, Jean Claude Juncker - the President of the European Commission - Britain's former ambassador to the EU, Ivan Rogers, and a whole host of other names were interviewed, but Cameron was glaringly absent.

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In his resignation statement in Downing Street, following the referendum defeat, Cameron said: “I will do everything I can in the future to help this great country succeed.”

He then disappeared back into No.10 and hasn’t been seen since. On the evidence of this documentary, that’s probably a good thing.

Pure (Channel 4, Wednesdays, 10pm), about a young woman plagued with, let’s say, inappropriate thoughts, could have been prurient nonsense, but was human, heartfelt and very funny.

Les Miserables (BBC1, Sundays, 9pm) is approaching the end, and while it looks fabulous and has some good performances, it’s hard to get emotionally involved with a plot that relies on coincidence.