Political Crisis In The (Dis)United Kingdom

Those who thought Britain’s transition to a new life outside the EU would be smooth have had their illusions rudely shattered. Britain is now in a major political and constitutional crisis.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced his resignation within hours of the Brexit vote. He agreed to stay on as caretaker while the Conservative party elects a new leader, a process which will take some months. But he refused to implement Brexit. That will be the responsibility of the new Prime Minister, whoever that may be.



Cameron’s resignation came as no surprise – to me, at any rate. He had identified himself so closely with the Remain campaign that he surely could not implement Brexit. Resignation was inevitable. But it effectively turned the referendum into a vote of no confidence in Cameron and his government.

Leave campaign leaders saw the danger, but too late. After the vote they rallied round Cameron with messages of support. But political crisis was already inevitable. Cameron was never going to agree to implement the Brexit against which he had fought. His credibility was already in tatters: why would he add to the ignominy by becoming a stooge for Boris Johnson and Michael Gove? No, he had one weapon left. By resigning, he could force them take responsibility for their own actions.

The Leave campaign never intended to implement Brexit themselves, and had done no planning whatsoever for it. They did not even have a clear view as to what form Britain’s relationship with the EU should take. In fact the Leave campaign still does not agree on this: some think that Britain should join the European Economic Area (the “Norway” solution), while others think that Britain should go it completely alone, relying on World Trade Organisation rules until it can cobble together bilateral trade agreements with its major trading partners – which even those in favor of this agree would take a long time.

The Leave campaign argued that planning was not their responsibility: it was up to the government to work out how best to implement the decision of the people. Cameron, of course, had already announced that he would stand down before the next election. So the Leave campaign leaders thought they could get him to do the dirty work, leading the country through what will probably be quite a nasty downturn, then set themselves up as the healers who would restore prosperity. Whether Cameron saw this agenda, or had simply had enough, we don’t know. But by resigning, he dropped them in it. Now, whoever replaces him as Prime Minister will have to press the nuclear button – namely, issue the statement of intent required under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to trigger the exit process.  Suddenly, Prime Minister has become the worst job in Britain.