On Brexit, Andy Burnham could do worse than follow the lead of Pericles | Letter

The Athenian led the people, he didn’t follow them, writes Prof Costas Milas Your editorial (The Guardian view on a changing Brexit debate: Kemi Badenoch is trapped in denial, 29 October) notes that when it comes to Brexit, Andy Burnham appears to be following the voters. This, in my humble opinion, is a problem. Thucydides noted about Pericles, the Athenian statesman, that “it was he who led them [the people], rather than they who led him”. It was arguably the constant and thoughtful guidance of Pericles to his fellow Athenian citizens that made Athens the dominant political and economic…