In July 2019, three years after British voters narrowly voted to leave the European Union in a 2016 referendum, Boris Johnson assumed the office of prime minister amid a political environment characterized by anger, turmoil and confusion. But despite initial stumbles that led some observers to predict he would suffer the same dismal fate as his predecessor, Theresa May, Johnson managed to deliver on his promise to renegotiate the U.K.’s transitional withdrawal agreement with the European Union. His subsequent decisive victory in December 2019 parliamentary elections, built in part on successfully wooing traditional Labour party voters, gave Johnson the ample majority he needed to see his deal through.
Before Johnson’s triumph, Brexit had been a disaster for both of the country’s two main political parties. The referendum outcome immediately brought down the Conservative government of former Prime Minister David Cameron, who had called for the vote in the first place. His successor, May, was felled by her inability to get the transitional withdrawal agreement she negotiated with Brussels through Parliament, mainly due to opposition by extremist Brexiteers within her own Tory ranks. For his part, Johnson achieved what May couldn’t, arriving at a transitional Brexit deal that a majority of Parliament could agree on—and then building on that majority in December 2019.
The issue was an unmitigated disaster for the opposition Labour party, which struggled under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn to find a winning position on Brexit. Support for Labour had already fallen since its better-than-expected finish in snap elections called by Theresa May in June 2017. But the December 2019 elections marked the party’s worst defeat in decades, in large part due to dissatisfaction with its lack of clarity on Brexit and also popular mistrust of Corbyn. Now Labour is seeking to rebuild under new party leader Keir Starmer, who replaced Corbyn in April after having previously served as Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary.
The U.K.’s future remains uncertain, and the lack of clarity has global implications. London is eager to negotiate post-Brexit trade deals, beginning with the U.S., to make sure that vital exports are not interrupted. But its leverage to do so will be seriously diminished. Meanwhile, Johnson must still negotiate a permanent trading relationship with the EU before Dec. 31, 2020, a deadline that is already reproducing all the brinksmanship of the past two years. Whether he reaches a final deal with the EU or leaves without one, Johnson will own the consequences of having finally delivered Brexit.
WPR has covered Brexit in detail and continues to examine key questions about what will happen next. What kind of permanent relationship will Boris Johnson negotiate with the EU? Will even an amicable U.K. divorce from the EU further weaken the trans-Atlantic alliance? And what kind of global role will the U.K. have after Brexit? Below are some of the highlights of WPR’s coverage.
Ever since the British referendum to leave the European Union, Conservative Party politicians have presented Brexit as the first step toward building a new “Global Britain.” But what could “Global Britain” actually be? And with COVID-19 likely to squeeze finances further, what would it take for the U.K. to get there?
Brexit was a disaster for both the Conservative and Labour parties, in part because leadership on both sides was not up to the seriousness of the task, but also because of deep divisions within both parties on the issue itself. Over the past four years, Brexit became the new dividing line in British politics, superseding the previous left-right fault line of Tory versus Labour. Johnson’s election victory in December 2019 brought closure on whether or not Brexit will happen, but it won’t necessarily heal those divisions.
How the U.K.’s effort to make human rights a central pillar of its post-Brexit foreign policy is running up against commercial interests in the Persian Gulf, in The Many Contradictions of ‘Global Britain’ in the Gulf
Why the coronavirus pandemic will have a lasting impact on British politics, in How Britain’s New Labour Party Leader Could Challenge the Tories After COVID-19
Why Boris Johnson’s winning electoral coalition could end up being a long-term problem, in Why Boris Johnson’s Election Victory Could Create More Instability for the U.K.
How the Tories’ Thatcher-era Euroskepticism evolved into Brexit, in From Fringe to Fault Line: How British Euroskepticism Became Brexit
The Difficulty of Delivering Brexit
During the referendum campaign in 2016, many pro-Brexit leaders downplayed the difficulties of actually delivering Brexit, from the Northern Ireland border to the economic consequences of leaving the EU, while exaggerating the ease with which the U.K. would negotiate follow-on trade deals. But perhaps nowhere was the absence of a realistic approach more painfully obvious than in the negotiations with Brussels that followed the referendum.
Why the drama over the U.K.’s withdrawal from the EU is continuing down to the wire, in Boris Johnson Is Hurtling the U.K. Toward Another Brexit Cliff
Why negotiations over a post-Brexit trade deal between the U.K. and EU will be déjà vu all over again, in Brexit’s Finish Line Is Only the ‘End of the Beginning’ for Britain and the EU
What Johnson’s renegotiated withdrawal agreement revealed about the future of U.K. trade policy, in With Another Brexit Delay, More Uncertainty—and a Glimpse at Future British Trade
Why sealing a U.S.-U.K. trade deal will be tougher than both sides let on, in Despite Trump and Johnson’s Optimism, a U.S.-U.K. Trade Deal Won’t Be So Easy
The Irish Backstop
The border between Ireland and Northern Ireland emerged as a key flashpoint in the Brexit negotiations. With both jurisdictions within the EU’s single market and customs union, there were no barriers to trade or movement. But negotiators were hamstrung over how to maintain that status quo after the U.K. withdraws from the EU. Johnson claims to have solved that problem, but others argue that the backstop question still threatens to reignite the decades-long conflict, known as The Troubles, pitting Catholic republicans against Protestant unionists.
How the coronavirus pandemic is compounding the impact of Brexit, in For the U.K. and Ireland, Brexit and COVID-19 Are a Perfect Storm
How the coronavirus pandemic helped make the case for a reunited Ireland, in Will Ireland and the U.K.’s Divided Responses to COVID-19 Fuel Irish Unification?
Why Johnson’s solution to the Irish backstop is not really a solution at all, in Brexit Still Hasn’t Solved the Problem of Northern Ireland
Why Brexit can only be bad news for Northern Ireland, in In Northern Ireland, There’s No Such Thing as a ‘Good Brexit’
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