This paper argues that the unexpected “Leave” result of the EU Referendum and subsequent political turmoil can be understood as a consequence of faulty decision-making by our leadership, which has been unable to use emotional intelligence when engaging with judgements that have an emotional component. Our leaders did not perceive the threats posed by the referendum and therefore had not planned for the “Leavers” winning the referendum. It is postulated that the reason for this inability to use emotional intelligence is to do with having cut off from feelings as a result of traumatic formative experiences involving prolonged separation from parents through being sent to boarding school as young children. A sample of test results of senior executives attending boarding school is compared with a sample of non-boarders to demonstrate how these experiences of prolonged separation impact on emotional intelligence.