Adios Brexit!

"British" and "exit" might be coming to an end , so The basics of  (1)>>Brexit, the troubled plan for Britain to quit the European Union. ..began , ended with  (1.2)>>Theresa May.  U.S. President Donald Trump says he is “feeling badly” for British Prime Minister Theresa May the chronically beleaguered Prime Minister, who announced Friday that she would resign.May held an emotional news conference in London hours earlier and said she would step aside June 7 after being unable to secure a Brexit deal.The president, leaving the White House for Japan, told reporters that “I like her very much.” Trump will meet with May in the U.K. early next month. He is heading to Europe for a state dinner in England as well as D-Day anniversary ceremonies.  More than half of voting-age British  — some 55 percent — think their government should never have held the referendum on EU membership, according to a new poll. It has become increasingly clear that the vote to leave the E.U. was impulsively fuelled by a combination of wary economic protectionism, narrow xenophobia, and out-and-out demagoguery; that its outcome was ill-prepared for, even by its advocates; and that, in any case, the pro-Brexit vote was never going to resolve the problems that its supporters sought to remedy.  In 2014 I began to  see that the United Kingdom was crumbling [see → shorturl.at/jEKT1 ]   As the saying goes of the UKgoes so does the world.  The Brexit idea may have been crafted by  (2)>>UK Nationalism , The vote to leave the EU in June 2016 was the result of a contingent alliance between sections of the electorate and an elite political project on the right of politics.  This elite project saw globalisation and the free market – along with renewed relationship with ‘traditional allies’ in the Anglosphere – as a viable and preferable alternative to membership of the EU.  What emerged as ‘Global Britain’ was perfectly aligned with the Anglo-British tradition of English nationalism, which portrayed England as a global rather than regional or parochial nation. This return of Britain subsumed the ‘England’ that had emerged in the decade before 2016.  England faded from political salience as ‘Global Britain’ took over once again.  In this situation, memory of Empire stood in as globalisation avant le lettre, allowing Brexiteers to portray Britain’s EU membership as a regional interregnum in its otherwise global history.  Scotland and Northern Ireland remained distinct as might have been anticipated, but England was further occluded by the new cleavages in politics revealed at 2017 election.  Brexit became a source of further political division in England after 2016.  Political divisions never stopped

Meet Boris Johnson , England's next
Prime Minister . And Trump Mirror .

nationalists proclaiming unity, but England’s unity was cloaked in British rhetoric as the UK left the EU. Now the U.K. is so conflicted and disorganized, and ­­­May was so under pressure by the hard-core  (3)>>Leavers, { The UK right-wing}  that it didn’t even fight these early battles. In a RAND study, we found that the EU knew from the outset it was playing a “zero sum game” in which it could only win if the U.K. could be seen to be losing. The U.K. wasn’t sure initially what game it was playing, or against whom. With May gone , the U.K. is going to be looking for  to succeed  as Prime Minister one of Britain’s most recognizable, and now most divisive politicians, (5)>>Mr. Johnson has a history of verbal gaffes, a poor record as a minister and many enemies in Parliament, not to mention among the voters who reject Brexit, which he helped persuade Britons to embrace in a 2016 referendum. He is viewed by his critics as Britain’s answer to Donald Trump. A larger-than-life character, Johnson combines a colorful personal life with an outspokenness and courting of controversy which is rare at the top of British politics. However, if Johnson can persuade  (4)>>Tory MPs to put him through — those who know him best seem most resistant to his appeal — Johnson will almost certainly become Britain’s next prime minister.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

(1)>>Brexit.  The UK and EU signed off on a 900-plus page withdrawal agreement and a political declaration on future ties after Brexit. May said this deal “delivers on the vote” by ending the free movement of people between the UK and EU, slashing payments to Brussels, and mostly taking the UK out from under jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. These commitments also mean the UK will be out of the EU’s single market and customs union. The government is banking on the supposed political benefits of the deal outweighing the economic costs.The agreement May negotiated has two parts. One is the binding withdrawal agreement. The other is a non-binding set of principles to guide future negotiations.Under the plan, the U.K. remains within a "customs union" with the EU for an unspecified period. This continues the trade that both parties wanted. The two sides will not impose tariffs on each other's imports. They are free to tax imports from other countries. Critics want the freedom to negotiate separate trade deals with other countries.The U.K. retains complete access to capital. The 3 million European nationals living in the U.K. can continue to live and work in the country without work visas. The 1.3 million U.K. citizens can continue to do the same in the EU.  (1.2)>>Theresa May. Before becoming Britain's second female prime minister, after Margaret Thatcher, May had spent six years and two months as home secretary beginning in 2010 — the longest tenure since James Chuter Ede, who had held the post from early August 1945 to late October 1951.As home secretary, May made a name for herself with her hard-line positions on immigration, which the government pledged to reduce. In 2015, she gave a controversial speech in which she said immigration made it "impossible to build a cohesive society."  May sought instead to rally support among the most right-wing members of her own party, choosing not to reach across the aisle until her exit agreement had thrice been rejected by those members she had hoped to persuade. It’s no surprise!     (2)>>UK Nationalism. The new English nationalism that surfaced so strongly during the Brexit campaign is, ironically, much closer to continental traditions of nationalism. It is much more ethnically and culturally exclusive than the English/British tradition, which developed when British politics stabilised after prolonged turmoil and civil war at the beginning of the eighteenth century.(3)>>Leavers. The days when Leavers talked about the sunlit uplands are over. Liam Fox has not even managed to replicate the scores of trade deals the UK will lose when we leave the EU. As for independence, Leavers cannot name any laws imposed on the UK by the EU that they do not like. Since the referendum, even public attitudes to immigration have become much more favourable.”It’s a far cry from the heady days of the Brexit campaign, when Leavers promised an additional £350 million a week to spend on the N.H.S. should Britain leave the bloc. But the Brexiteers, rather than repenting in the face of such a dire economic prognosis, have largely dismissed the government’s accounting. “We were told during the referendum campaign that we’d each lose £4,300 and that there would be a recession and higher unemployment,” said former international development secretary Priti Patel. “And yet we’ve seen record wage growth and record employment levels. If ministers spent time preparing for a no-deal scenario rather than dreaming up silly scare stories, we could all make a success of our post-Brexit future.” She was echoed by former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, who told The Daily Telegraph that the report “looks like a rehash of Project Fear”—referring to the theory that stories about the N.H.S. stockpiling blood and police preparing for no-deal riots were a deliberate scare tactic designed to throw a wrench in Brexit negotiations.”  (4)>>Tory.  The Tories political faction that emerged in 1681 was a reaction to the Whig-controlled Parliaments that succeeded the Cavalier Parliament. ... In addition, PinkTory is used in Canadian politics as a pejorative term to describe a member of the Conservative/Progressive Conservative party who is perceived as liberal. (5)>>Mr. Johnson has a history of verbal gaffes. Boris Johnson, the leading contender to replace Theresa May as prime minister,Despite this, he is tipped to be the country's next PM, thanks to the catastrophic failures of Theresa May, which have forced her resignation and triggered a leadership race in the Conservative party.But nevertheless the arch-Eurosceptic ex-London mayor is still the bookies' favourite to win the leadership race.They currently have Boris at 9/4 to be the next permanent PM, according to Paddy Power.