SOMETIMES it’s hard to believe how experienced politicians can be so utterly stupid and blinkered.

Former Prime Minister David Cameron’s short-sighted calling of a European Union referendum will reverberate for years to come and probably cost us all dearly.

His successor, Theresa May, is visibly falling apart after her ill-judged, disastrous decision to hold a so-called ‘snap’ election which totally backfired on her and the Conservative Party.

And now Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has entered the eejit of the year stakes with his bungling behaviour over Catalonia’s bid to separate itself from the rest of Spain.

Clearly the Catalonian referendum was against Spanish law.

However, there was every indication the majority would vote to stay in Spain so, if Rajoy had a semblance of flexibility, he would have allowed it to go ahead peacefully and then said: “I told you so.” 

Instead, he panicked and sent in police who went totally over the top by beating up voters and dragging them by their hair.

These disgraceful scenes appalled people around the world, but the ineffective European Commission responded limply by insisting this was an internal issue for Spain.

You can be sure the Commission’s language would have been much stronger if the police stormtrooper tactics had been deployed in Hungary or Poland, who are in the EU, or Turkey, which has absolutely nae chance of getting in.

Politicians will have to sort out Spain’s increasingly troubled affairs, but don’t hold your breath.