UKIP’s Nigel Farage ended the 2016 Brexit campaign with a call to the nation: ‘It’s us versus the Establishment — go and vote for Britain’. And 52% of the population obliged, creating one of the most dramatic anti-establishment movements in our history. Five months later, Donald Trump’s promise to ‘drain the swamp’ of ineffective or corrupt Washington politicians helped him to win the US presidency.
Traditionally ‘the establishment’ referred to members of Britain’s ruling elite. It was argued that they occupied many of the top jobs in government, the civil service, the judiciary, finance, media, the military and the Church. This allowed them to serve the establishment’s interests consistently, regardless of which political party held power.
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