Back in 2013, prime minister David Cameron promised a referendum on leaving the EU. He didn't want to leave, he just wanted to stop the right wing of the Conservative Party "banging on about Europe".
That went well.
Cameron is now living a quiet life in a £16,500 shepherd's hut in his garden in Chipping Norton. He resigned the day after the shock result of the 2016 referendum.
His selfish political gamble opened the way for Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and now Rishi Sunak. As leaders of the still divided Tories, their job has been to turn slogans from an ugly and divisive referendum campaign into a functioning way of running the country.
The huge turnover at Cameron's former gaff in Downing Street suggests that this is not as easy as putting a glib promise on the side of a bus.
Current problems, from the increase in migrants willing to risk their lives crossing the Channel in inflatable dinghies to the price of salad, have their roots in Brexit.
Take the right-wingers Cameron tried to shut up. They are still there, demanding that the referendum promise to reduce immigration to the tens of thousands be honoured.
But there are massive job vacancies left by EU workers who wouldn't or couldn't stick around after Brexit and there are not enough home-grown workers to pick the lettuces. (Or make the coffees. Or be the GP.)
Meanwhile, because the UK does not work with European partners on immigration issues, there are increasing numbers boarding dangerous small boats. Overall migration is at a record high.
That ramps up the pain on the Prime Minister. But Brexit has brought misery to all our lives.
Inflation, currently 8.7 per cent, comes from the increased costs of importing food and other goods. But it's also caused by rising wages, which are caused by staff shortages.
The cost of fuel is also a factor. We were promised reduced fuel prices. Instead the pound's value is in the toilet. The UK is left buying oil and gas with a weak currency, in a market already savaged by the war in Ukraine.
Those puny pounds do not go far if we brave the airport queues and go to Europe on holiday. Once there, we need decent health insurance. A blue passport is not much help to a broken leg.
Brexit has shrunk the UK and turned us inward. Investment has fallen - why would an international company choose to put a factory or office here?
If they want to export to the EU they face horrendous red tape. If their staff want to go anywhere they will have to queue at the airport .
In February, AstraZeneca, the firm that made the Covid vaccine, announced its new factory would be in Ireland. We are losing out on lucrative international business.
British universities used to carry out billions of pounds worth of pharmaceutical research, funded by the EU. Those jobs and opportunities, all that potential, gone.
The idea that the NHS would get an extra £350million a week is perhaps one of the sickest jokes ever played on the electorate. Brexit has damaged our precious health service in many ways, from staff shortages to gaps in drug supplies.
Fishermen thought they would get rid of their hated quotas at last. Instead Brexit has been a disaster for the industry and left many feeling used then discarded as the campaign ended.
Complaining is very unattractive, which is why the right tagged those of us who thought it was bonkers to leave the EU as "remoaners". But in the face of something obviously disastrous, a negative response is the correct response. And it's hard to overstate how damaging Brexit has been .
What makes it so heartbreaking is that it was all so unnecessary.
Brexit was a referendum held by an overconfident prime minister who thought it would put his internal snipers' gas at a peep.
It was fought using phony promises and wildly misleading figures. The Leave vote ended Cameron's career. It left us with Theresa May, who did her limited best to make it work, then Boris Johnson who could not be bothered to read the small print, or stop smirking and appreciate the gravity of what was at stake.
The mess they have left will take decades to clean up. They printed lies on the side of a bus. Then they threw the country under it.
Brexit has seeped into every corner of our lives.
It affects our huge decisions - where do we want to live, or study, or retire?
And our smaller ones, like where we go on holiday or whether or not we put Greek olives and Spanish tomatoes into our shopping trolleys.
Businesses have to cope with everything from screeds of paperwork and extra taxes to staff shortages and price increases. Even charities have seen their European funding dry up.
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
