People don't understand Brexit, because they don't know how it all started. Back in the day when de Gaulle and Adenauer signed the Elysee-Treaty they intended to create an european continental superpower with France and Germany as the backbone. The reason was simple as they didn't want to be the nuclear battlefield of World War 3.
When Kennedy found out about it, he was furious. He campaigned hard to get the UK to join the european project in order to sabotage it from the inside. While he managed to push Adenauer out of office, he couldn't do anything against de Gaulle though. Therefore the UK entered the "European Economic Community" shortly after de Gaulle resigned.
The famous scene from "Yes Minister" is so funny, because it's so true and everyone knew it. Ever since then the UK was doing everything they could to prevent french-german domination in Europe, but it all ended with the Treaty of Maastricht when the unanimous voting system got removed. That's why the US campaigned hard to get the eastern european states to join, so there was more chaos and a possible shift in majorities. This is also the reason why so much american money went to projects in Poland for instance.
It took almost 50 years for France to get rid of the UK, so Napoleon and de Gaulle can finally have the last laugh. You can see this if you monitor Macron's reactions to the Brexit. France wants the UK to leave as fast as possible. Germany wants the UK to stay as long as possible, so they don't get screwed and have to pay for the whole project all by themselves. The US, Russia and China want the EU to blow up in a gigantic explosion, because they don't need another big global player who is armed with nuclear weapons.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the real story behind it. What you see on TV or read in the newpapers about it is just the usual bs to cover it up.
P.S.: You can look up the stuff about Kennedy in the archives of the foreign office. The documents of the current administration will be available in 2069