This seems to have been the reaction of most people as they either watched the explosive events that took place in Britain’s House of Commons last evening or perhaps had it explained to them down the pub.
The problem is that it is practically impossible to give a clear and precise explanation of those events, even if you are not terminally verbose, as I am.
I’m really just going to repeat what most people know already simply to get my own head around it, as I know that both of you are intelligent enough to understand what went on, what is going on and what will go on.
For those who don’t yet know, however, just let me state for the record that our prime minister is now Boris Johnson, a.k.a. “BloJo”, “BoZo”, or whatever you want to call him.
Personally, I think this man had ambitions for the top job right from the word go; that is, before he became an M.P. the first time around, back in 2001. He ducked out of Parliament for eight years, in the meantime becoming Mayor of London, but was back in Westminster in 2015, even before his tenure as mayor of the U.K.’s capital city had ended.
Brexit gave him the opportunity he needed to become prime minister. His position on it has never changed, so far as I know. He wants out of Europe, and he doesn’t appear to care whether there is a deal or not. If he had to swing one way or the other, he would most likely tell you that he would prefer to leave without a deal. That way, he could become the puppy dog for his mirror image, Donald J. Trump, or “DoJo”, “DoZo,” or whatever you want to call him.
Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, as you may recall, was a total failure as PM. I’m sure she’s perfectly wonderful company down at the local wine-tasting evening, but as Prime Minister, she was a non-starter. First of all, when her predecessor, David Cameron, had his bright idea to hold a referendum on the UK’s position in the European Union, and put it in the Conservative Party’s election manifesto in 2015, Cameron’s position was that he wanted the country to Remain. (I’m putting “Leave” and ‘Remain” with capital first letters because these were essentially the choices given on the referendum paper itself for voters to decide: Do you want the United Kingdom to Leave or Remain in the European Union?)
The referendum was held the year after the 2015 election – on June 23, 2016, to be precise. And, like any election, there was a public campaign to try and get voters on their side but there was a slight difference: campaigners for Leave or Remain were not necessarily of the same political party.
As I said, Cameron campaigned for the U.K. to Remain. Others in the Conservative Party, including Boris Johnson (although he was not yet an MP), campaigned to Leave. But that was OK, Cameron said, it’s fine to have differences of opinion among party members, as long as when the vote took place and you lose, you must respect the winners’ point of view, and accept the majority verdict. Generally, referenda are not legally binding; but, as Cameron pointed out, whatever the people’s decision was in the 2016 vote, the government would abide by it.
That turned out to be the most damaging and divisive statement ever constructed in the history of British politics. Well, since the Civil War of 1642-1651, at least.
Anyway, cast your mind(s) back to the Referendum campaign. Guess who was one of Mr Cameron’s chief supporters on the Remain side? That’s right, his home secretary, Mrs Theresa May.
In the early hours of Friday, June 24, 2016, David Cameron got the shock of his life. By a narrow majority, less than two per cent overall, the United Kingdom had voted to Leave the European Union. Cameron had lost the biggest political challenge he had set himself.
A podium was placed in Downing Street, just outside the Prime Minister’s front door. Cameron walked out to it, faced the world’s media, and promptly resigned. It would have to be another Conservative who should lead the party, and the country, through the enormous quagmire of bureaucratic nonsense that would be required once Article 50 – the process by which official departure from the E.U. is triggered – is set in motion. Presumably, that person would have to be someone who threw their hat into the Leave ring.
Strangely, Boris Johnson did not apply for the job. He had only just become an MP again the previous year; perhaps he felt it would be too fast a rise, even for him.
Even stranger than that was the name of someone who did apply – that’s right, the former home secretary, Mrs Theresa May. She of the Remain campaign. And she wanted to lead us out of the European Union.
Much stranger still was the fact that all the other challengers mysteriously disappeared, and Mrs May got the job by default. So, here she was, a default prime minister, a proven ~Remainer, leading the British charge (remember Scotland voted overwhelmingly to Remain) out of the EU.
She was charged with not only making sure that the UK left the EU by March 29, 2019, but that we did so with a deal, and that meant making sure we kept up more or less the same trade with the EU, and – most importantly of all – that we kept the borders open between Northern Ireland, still a member of the United Kingdom (they too voted to Remain), and the Republic of Ireland, who were exercising their right as an independent nation to stay in the arms of Europe. Politicians were, and still are, concerned that to reintroduce a ‘hard border’ between the North & South of Ireland would reignite the “troubles” that had been halted in 1998 by the Good Friday Agreement.
So, no pressure, then.
Remember, this was in July, 2016. Article 50, which is the article in the EU Treaty (enacted by The Lisbon Treaty) under which nations that have voted to do so can leave the EU, must be triggered first; once that is done, you’ve got two years to get out. By the way, according to article 50, the Union “…shall negotiate and conclude an agreement with that State, setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account the framework for its future relationship with the Union.” In other words, unless you make some sort of an agreement with the European Union, you are breaking the terms of Article 50.
Unfortunately, Mrs May and the best political negotiators in the land could not get an agreement with the European Union. If you want to know the technical details of all of that, there are several articles on Wikipedia about it; rather than go into the details here, because they are huge, I suggest you read the following:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unlawful_campaigning_in_the_2016_EU_referendum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_Brexit_referendum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_vote_in_favour_of_Brexit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal_from_the_European_Union#Procedure
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit_negotiations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit_negotiations#Negotiation_for_withdrawal_agreement
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit_negotiations_in_2019
There. That little lot should keep you both happy. I’m going to wrap it up there. It seems ironic that, on the same day that the death is announced of Zimbabwe’s Hitler, Robert Mugabe, that Boris Johnson is beginning to go down that same route, taking the United Kingdom by the scruff of the neck, dragging round the back of the bike shed, and beating it senseless with a spade. All on the advice of a very nasty man indeed, one Dominic Cummings, who, in a very short space of time, has become infamous for his very, very, very right-wing views. If you live in the United Kingdom, and it is possible for you to do so, I have one short piece of advice for you: move.
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