Tag Archives: Brexit

The grandiose promises Johnson makes to survive, Paul Mason writes, rely on a state like those … in the European Union. Paul Mason* Boris Johnson has survived, but only just. The 148 Conservative MPs who voted no confidence in the prime minister on June 6th represented 41 per cent of …

The Conservative Party used to be famed for its pragmatic retention of power, Paul Mason writes. It’s lost that muscle memory. Paul Mason* Meltdown’ was the word Britain’s newspapers reached for as Boris Johnson’s administration fell apart at the end of last week. As a metaphor, it’s accurate. In a literal nuclear …

Boris Johnson ignores the old truth that blaming scapegoats is one way to run a campaign, but no way to run a country. While this lasts, the flame of rational, outward-looking patriotism must be kept alight by Britain’s civil society. Peter Kellner* Dear Europe, don’t give up on us. The …

So little appears at stake in the Northern Ireland protocol yet it’s at the heart of the Brexit deadlock. But then it’s a proxy for something else. Robin Wilson* One of Belfast’s main hotels is called the Europa. It has a classic, pillared frontage—the previous, modernist version was turned into …

Despite petrol shortages and empty shelves, Labour is adrift—and Johnson may press the Northern Ireland protocol nuclear button. Paul Mason* At my local petrol station, a cadre of young men have suddenly appeared, in high-visibility jackets, to instruct car drivers in the fine art of the jammed-nose-to-tail refill. Each pump …

Recognition of the EU’s gravitational pull on ‘global Britain’, and so any rapprochement, will take many years. Paul McGrade* The post-Brexit relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union has been characterised by sour and suspicious competition. But can the UK maintain its resistance to full implementation of the Protocol on …

A by-election in Northern England highlights the corrosive atrophying of the UK body politic, Paul Mason writes. Paul Mason* Last week’s by-election in Batley & Spen, an old Yorkshire manufacturing town with a Labour tradition and a large postwar South-Asian Muslim population, has opened up a new chapter in post-Brexit politics. With …

Paul Mason writes that a Biden’s US presidency allied to an EU pursuing ‘strategic autonomy’ leaves a ‘sovereign’ UK with a bit-part role. Paul Mason Poor, isolated and destined to disintegrate. That is how the United Kingdom looks from the outside, in the first few weeks of its ‘freedom’ from …

‘Brexit’ stemmed from the takeover of the Tory party by its Eurosceptic fringe, whose prejudices will now collide with reality. Kirsty Hughes As 2021 begins, the European Union and the United Kingdom have a new relationship, underpinned by their trade and co-operation agreement. This fracture, damages and complicates economic, political …

Doaa Moneim – Ahram Online On 5 December, Egypt and the UK inked an agreement to strengthen their political and trade ties. “The agreement, taking effect on January, will allow British businesses and consumers to benefit from continued preferential access to the market after the end of the transitional period …