After the Earthquake
By Roger Kimball
A cartoon on the front page of The Telegraph this morning sums up the stunned mood in London. “Good evening,” a newsreader says. “Aliens didn’t land on earth and Elvis wasn't found alive, but everything else happened.” The triumph of Brexit sent shock waves through the edifice of polite opinion.
In Britain, breaking up is hard to do
By David Stewart
Listening to a powerful performance of Shostakovich’s “Leningrad” Symphony at the wonderful Proms summer music festival at London’s Royal Albert Hall made something click. This month’s Dispatch from London had been almost completed and then discarded seven times owing to the fast-moving unpredictability of public life just now in the United Kingdom and the daily disasters that comprise the Conservative government’s negotiations to depart the European Union.
Each day brings not only further confusion but also growing demands for a “people’s vote”: a second referendum on E.U. membership or at least a plebiscite on whatever exit deal, if any, this hapless government manages to negotiate. During the past few weeks, a resurgent demand for a second Scottish independence referendum has swelled, riding a wave of annoyance at a London “power grab,” and two more key ministers have departed from Westminster. Only the imminent parliamentary summer recess has emboldened your correspondent to try for an eighth time to file a complete Dispatch.
Boris Johnson to face off against Alex Salmond in Telegraph EU debate
By Peter Dominiczak
Boris Johnson will face off against Alex Salmond in a European Union debate hosted by The Telegraph. The debate, in partnership with the Huffington Post and powered by YouTube, will also feature Eurosceptic Priti Patel, the employment minister, and Remain campaigner Liz Kendall, the Labour MP who took part in last year’s Labour leadership contest.
A Better Britain Outside the EU
By Tim Montgomerie (WSJ)
Brexit—a British exit from the European Union—would give the U.K. self-determination and free it from the dysfunctional European project. Margaret Thatcher predicted that it would end in tears. She described “the drive to create a European superstate” as “perhaps the greatest folly of the modern era.”
EU referendum: Sterling volatility hits crisis levels as David Cameron warns Brexit would 'put a bomb under economy'
By Michael Wilkinson
The rival EU referendum camps have clashed over the economy, after David Cameron said Brexit would "put a bomb" under the UK's prospects. The Prime Minister accused the Leave campaign of an "undemocratic and reckless" failure to explain to voters how they see Britain's economic future in the case of a Brexit vote in the June 23 referendum.
Theresa May's Brexit plan is bold and ambitious – and it deserves to succeed
Good things come to those who wait. Theresa May’s excellent speech on Brexit was months in the making, but that time was well spent. Mrs May voted Remain, and needed time to think through all of the issues with experts, civil servants and her Cabinet before deciding exactly how to proceed.
EU referendum morning briefing: Leave threatens £2.4bn bill for Britain
By The Guardian
Remain campaigners say claim is ‘nonsense’ in light of UK veto; Cameron takes stage with Commons rivals; and new poll puts Brexit four points ahead. David Cameron might not want to face fellow Conservatives in debates over Britain’s future but today he’ll issue a statement with politicians usually found on the opposite side of the Commons, teaming up with Labour’s Harriet Harman, Lib Dem leader Tim Farron and Green party leader Natalie Bennett to label the Brexit campaign a “con-trick”.
Leave given marginal poll lead hours before Brits start voting as European Commission president warns there will be no further renegotiation with Brussels
By Michael Wilkinson and Laura Hughes
Michael Gove has "lost it", David Cameron said after his friend compared economic experts warning about the fall-out of Brexit to the Nazis smearing Albert Einstein in the 1930s.
Beware the “Brintroverts”
By Bagehot
One more straw in the wind: the overall trajectory of the polls. In the final week of the campaign there has been a clear, if not overwhelming, tilt towards Remain.
Why I’m backing Brexit
By Michael Gove
For weeks now I have been wrestling with the most difficult decision of my political life. But taking difficult decisions is what politicians are paid to do. No-one is forced to stand for Parliament, no-one is compelled to become a minister. If you take on those roles, which are great privileges, you also take on big responsibilities. I was encouraged to stand for Parliament by David Cameron and he has given me the opportunity to serve in what I believe is a great, reforming Government. I think he is an outstanding Prime Minister. There is, as far as I can see, only one significant issue on which we have differed.
Why Americans Should Celebrate the Brexit Vote
By Nile Gardiner
The United States should seize upon Brexit as a tremendous opportunity to sign an historic free trade agreement with the United Kingdom—a deal that would advance prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic.
British Lords a-Leaping to Brexit from Brussels
By Deroy Murdock
“The U.S. was built of the people, by the people, for the people, but tragically the EU is now something that’s done to the people,” says Dobbs, currently executive producer of the Emmy-winning Netflix series.
Brexit: Isolationism or Atlanticism?
By Max Boot
Who could have possibly imagined that one of the consequences of President Obama’s failure to intervene in Syria to stop the civil war would be Britain’s exit from the EU—a move that he opposed?
How do I watch the EU referendum debates live?
By the UK Mirror
David Cameron may be refusing to go head-to-head with Tories - but there'll still be some big showdowns. Here are the dates for your diary
Daniel Hannan MEP: A Bright Brexit Future
Exit Britain?
By Douglas Murray
For at least a quarter of a century, there was no greater bore in British politics than the Eurobore, who warned against Britain’s loss of sovereignty to Brussels.
Britain’s Risky Moment
By Washington Post Editorial
British Prime Minister David Cameron declared on Saturday that “we are approaching one of the biggest decisions this country will face in our lifetimes,” in a June referendum on whether to remain in the European Union. He’s right, unfortunately: A British vote against the EU would be a “step into the dark” that most likely would greatly harm Britain’s economy, its global influence and its ability to be a strategic partner of the United States.
Barack Obama and the end of the Anglosphere
By Gideon Rachman
When supporters of the Vote Leave campaign sketch out a future for Britain outside the EU, they often point to the Anglosphere of English-speaking nations — bequeathed by Britain’s imperial past. So Barack Obama’s intervention in Britain’s EU referendum last week was a potentially devastating moment for the Brexit campaign.
Polls give boost to Cameron's fight against Brexit
By William Schomberg and Paul Sandle
The campaign to keep Britain in the European Union regained its lead in two opinion polls published on Saturday, giving a boost to Prime Minister David Cameron who is battling to avoid a historic "Out" vote in Thursday's referendum.
Brexit of Champions
By Jed Babbin
What reason does Britain have to go down with a sinking ship? “Brexit,” the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, should be an easy choice for UK voters, but it will not be. That’s because the campaign against Brexit will be led by the man who should be campaigning for it, British Prime Minister David Cameron, head of the Conservative Party.
EU referendum: Pros and cons of Britain voting to leave Europe
By The Week Ltd
Should Britain stay in the EU? The country will decide in a referendum on 23 June. On 23 June, the UK will settle a question that's been rumbling close to the surface of British politics for a generation: should the country remain within the European Union, or leave the organisation and go it alone. Both sides insist that the outcome of the vote will settle the matter of Britain's EU membership for the foreseeable future.
Out of the Brexit Turmoil: Opportunity
By Henry A. Kissinger
The impact of the British vote is so profound because the emotions it reflects are not confined to Britain or even Europe. The popular reaction to European Union institutions (as reflected in public-opinion polls) is comparable in most major countries, especially France and Spain.
Remain MPs could block EU single market withdrawal post-Brexit
By Emilio Casalicchio
Some 474 MPs who back a Remain vote are considering using the weight of their House of Commons majority out of fears a newly negotiated trade deal could be limited, the BBC reports. But Vote Leave insisted MPs will be unable to "defy the will of the electorate" on key issues such as trade.
Strengthening the ties between the United States, United Kingdom, and the English speaking world.
The Anglosphere Society
EU referendum: who needs experts when we've got Michael Gove?
By Michael Deacon
Experts. Authorities. Specialists. People who know stuff. Should we listen to them? Or dismiss them out of hand as a load of stuck-up swots who think they know better than the rest of us, just because they know better than the rest of us? It’s a difficult question. So thank goodness for Michael Gove.
‘Brexit,’ a Feel-Good Vote That Could Sink Britain’s Economy
By Peter S. Goodman
If not for the trifling matter of Britain potentially abandoning the European Union, Rowan Crozier figures the factory he oversees would already be clattering away with extra urgency.
Pro-Remain MPs could trigger 'constitutional crisis' by using Commons majority to keep Britain in the EU after Brexit vote
By Christopher Hope
MPs could seek to keep Britain in the European single market even if the public vote in the referendum to leave the European Union, in a move which anti-EU Tories said was “unacceptable” and would cause a “constitutional crisis”.
The man who brought you Brexit
By Sam Knight
Until about nine months ago, leaving the European Union was not something that sensible British politicians talked about. They hadn’t, really, since the country entered the bloc in 1973, the year that Theresa May sat her O-levels. In the intervening 43 years, as the EEC became the EU; and Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair came and went; and the Channel Tunnel was dug; and the borders spread to the east; and the euro was launched, and then foundered; our relationship with Brussels seemed, more or less, to embody a settled ambivalence towards the European continent that most British people instinctively recognised as their own. Close, but separate. In, but not integrated. Related, but not the same. We did not learn French. And then 17 million people voted to leave.
Brexit Is a Break for U.S. After Years of Failure In Policy on Europe
By Conrad Black
The current hysteria is the usual mindless idiocy of financial specialists who don’t know anything about politics or strategic issues, especially when they unfold in foreign countries.
Euro-court outlaws criticism of EU
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels
THE European Court of Justice ruled yesterday that the European Union can lawfully suppress political criticism of its institutions and of leading figures, sweeping aside English Common Law and 50 years of European precedents on civil liberties. The EU's top court found that the European Commission was entitled to sack Bernard Connolly, a British economist dismissed in 1995 for writing a critique of European monetary integration entitled The Rotten Heart of Europe.
Cameron Calls for Calm in Conservative Civil War Over Brexit
By Thomas Penny
Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to end so-called “blue-on-blue” attacks between members of his Conservative Party in the final weeks of campaigning for the referendum on European Union membership.
21 Dogs With Opinions On Brexit
BuzzFeed Staff
“We must protect our borders and our sovereignty. Woof.”
Former London Mayor Boris Johnson Says He Isn’t Seeking to Replace British Prime Minister David Cameron
By Jenny Gross and Nicholas Winning
Late Wednesday, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, who teamed up to win the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, had their arms around each other, celebrating their victory at a Conservative Party fundraiser at the Hurlingham Club, a members-only hangout in West London.
Why the Remain Campaign Lost the Brexit Vote
By John Cassidy
To many people around the world, the United Kingdom’s vote, on Thursday, to quit the European Union came as a great shock. But the result, with fifty-two per cent of voters in favor leaving the E.U., shouldn’t have been such a surprise. The fact is, the E.U. has never been particularly popular with ordinary people in the U.K., particularly England, and in the weeks leading up to the vote many opinion polls showed the Leave side with a narrow lead.
A Mandate for Liberty, a Rejection of Subservience: What Brexit Means
By Roger Kimball
This vote was a mandate for liberty, a rejection of subservience, and above all a rejection of the disgusting moral blackmail of "Project Fear" disseminated by the vested interests of the world establishment.
EU referendum: Former CIA director backs claims Brexit could be good for UK security because EU can "get in the way"
By William Turvill
A former CIA director has backed claims that a so-called Brexit could be good for Britain's security. Retired general Michael Hayden has said the European Union “in some ways gets in the way of the state providing security for its own citizens”. He was speaking after former head of MI6 Richard Dearlove yesterday said Britain could be safer outside of the EU.
The Economist’s guide to Britain’s EU referendum
By The Economist Staff
The facts about everything from sovereignty and immigration to economics and the consequences of leaving. To help interested readers, we have now assembled all our Brexit briefs together.
EU referendum: Poll reveals 10-point swing towards Brexit as Leave campaign gains momentum
By Andrew Grice
The campaign to take Britain out of the EU has opened up a remarkable 10-point lead over the Remain camp, according to an exclusive poll for The Independent. The survey of 2,000 people by ORB found that 55 per cent believe the UK should leave the EU (up four points since our last poll in April), while 45 per cent want it to remain (down four points).
Will There Always Be an England?
By Roger Kimball
Sitting here in a London Starbucks on the day of the most fateful vote in recent British history, I wonder what Ross Parker and Hughie Charles would make of the controversy over "Brexit."
‘An Illusion of Sovereignty’
Editorial of The New York Sun
What, we wonder, does Queen Elizabeth II make of the way her prime minister has begun arguing against British independence? The question struck us as we watched this week an interview Mr. Cameron gave to the BBC, where he offered an early glimpse of his case for staying in the European Union.
May’s Brexit vision is Churchill’s vision of Britain and Europe
By Daniel Hannan
Why, then, am I so chirpy about Theresa May’s speech? Isn’t my market-oriented version of Brexit soggier than her supposedly granite-hard one? Doesn’t mine place more emphasis on trade and less on immigration?
Nicolas Sarkozy: UK referendum on EU an opportunity for change
By Hanne Cokelaere
Former President of France Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday Britain’s debate on its relationship with the European Union should have been “an opportunity to accelerate change in Europe.” In an interview with Le Figaro newspaper, Sarkozy said: “Some British demands are perfectly justified.”
He called the possibility of Brexit a double shipwreck:
Theresa May is decisive over Brexit but we choose not to listen
By Janan Ganesh
Critics are in denial when they call the prime minister a vacillator
Theresa May grew up in the England where nothing is said that can be implied through body language or withheld altogether. For six years she ran the Home Office, a trove of secrets, some of which touch on life and death.