Hypocrisy is the wrong accusation

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Some people on his own (Tory) side as well as anti-Brexit campaign group, ‘Best for Britain’ have been rather unkind to former Chancellor, Lord Lawson, over his application for a carte de séjour, allowing him to remain resident in France.  I can see why the idea that a prominent Brexiteer opting not just to live in France, but to complete all the necessary paperwork confirming his right of residence there, might look to some more than a little hypocritical.

I’m not sure that it is though.  Insofar as the more prominent Brexiteers really wanted to control movement of people at all, it was the movement of ‘other people’ – particularly the poorer ones – which was the subject of their expressed concern.  It was never the intention of rich supporters of Brexit that their own rights should in any way be curtailed.  I think it goes deeper than that, however.  Many Brexiteers are, and always have been, intensely relaxed about free movement; opposition to it was merely a device to persuade people to support what was for the Brexiteers themselves an ideological crusade against the EU.

What exactly is in the least bit hypocritical about a well-off person who believes that well-off people should be able to go wherever they like going wherever he likes?   Hypocrisy is the wrong accusation; there are plenty of others much more suitable.