For all the talk by nationalists about how much they value unity, democracy and tradition, nationalism always turns out to be the most divisive, undemocratic and disrespectful political principle imaginable. The Brexit variety is no different. It was entirely predictable that it would not so much liberate a sovereign nation from its supposed European shackles as unleash a political elite from any constraints whatsoever. Now that Boris Johnson’s premiership has ended in disgrace and he has been exposed for what he is and what everyone knew he was, there is a sense of relief in Brussels. And sure, there is some schadenfreude on the continent that he has finally got his comeuppance. But no one is under any illusion that Johnson’s departure from Downing Street solves any of the underlying problems in the UK/EU relationship. Because the damage done by the outgoing prime minister, through the project that he instrumentalised to achieve power, lives on. On the economy, it lives on to the point where even Labour finds it impossible to distance itself from the core problem now harming the UK: Brexit itself. Trying to “make Brexit work” the slogan that Labour leader Keir Starmer uses when he rules out a future return to British membership, might be a political imperative for at least another generation. But it is still economic and illogical nonsense. No amount of tinkering with the practical details of Brexit can remedy the fundamental incoherence it creates. Self-imposed isolation from your nearest and biggest trading partner harms small businesses as they try to trade with customers in neighbouring countries, prompts big companies to seek to invest elsewhere and dismembers labour markets to the detriment of both employers and job-seekers. On the UK’s political relationship with the EU, I believe – although am more than happy to be corrected if wrong – that none of those being discussed as Conservative hopefuls for the premiership has taken a significantly more constructive attitude than Johnson. On the geopolitical unity of the democratic west, make no mistake, there may not be a translation of the word Schadenfreude in English but autocrats from Moscow to Beijing know all about it. They are loving every minute of the spectacle, not this time of the prime minister’s removal from office, but of one of the world’s most prominent democracies self-imploding and the impact that has on democratic partnerships. Last week the Chinese embassy in Ireland trolled Johnson after he tweeted that the UK had upheld its obligations to Hong Kong. “We made a promise to the people of Hong Kong 25 years ago. We intend to keep it,” Johnson had boasted. The Chinese government sarcastically parroted his claim with the taunt: “Two years ago we made a promise to the Northern Ireland Protocol. We are determined to break it.” All politics is global. The discredited, exhausted and fractured populist politics that Johnson and the man he so admired, Donald Trump, leave will haunt us all for years to come. If anything good can come out of the impending leadership contest, it would be a commitment from the next UK prime minister that he or she will solve outstanding issues within the framework of the Northern Ireland protocol and drop the destructive bluster and the undermining of international law. The people of continental Europe can only hope the UK Conservative party makes a clean break not just with the man but with his method. It is time for democracies to rise to the occasion. Guy Verhofstadt is an MEP who served as the European parliament’s Brexit coordinator from 2016 to 2020. He is a former prime minister of Belgium