BFP10: 30.01-05.02 Looking back at Brexit

Here are my British Foreign Policy 10 from the week that saw Britain mark the third anniversary of its withdrawal from the EU, Rishi Sunak pass 100 days in office, and Liz Truss and Boris Johnson busy trying to rebuild their shattered reputations: 10 of the best reports, podcasts, twitter threads speeches etc. that I’ve added to my Zotero database this past week.

Three years on from Brexit, what do Remain and Leave voters think? Image source: click here

1. Brexit anniversary — iNews: Brexit will join Suez and Iraq in the great pantheon of catastrophic British errors. Three years on, we are covered in the scars of what it has done to this country.

2. Brexit anniversary — Bloomberg: Brexit Is Costing the UK £100 Billion a Year in Lost Output. Bloomberg Economics report marks third anniversary of split. Business investment is weaker, labor shortages more acute.

3. Brexit anniversary — UKICE: What could a closer EU relationship realistically look like? Joël Reland sets out what a closer relationship between the UK and the EU might realistically look like should the two sides decide to pursue one, suggesting that it is most likely to take the form of deepening the existing trading agreement rather than a full renegotiation.

4. Brexit negotiations — Encompass: Inside the Deal. How the EU Got Brexit Done, by Stefaan de Rynck: Book Review by Denis MacShane. And The House: Revealing insights into the EU mindset: Lord Frost reviews 'Inside the Deal’. And link here to Barnier discussing the Brexit negotiations — UKICE: Unlocked with Michel Barnier event.

5. Decline — Nick Cohen: The Tories in denial about the steepest national decline in 250 years. Waving the flag as Britain sinks into the sea.

6. Strategy — Daily Express: This Professor’s view may be the wisest take on Brexit you’ll read all year. Before Brexit, Britain was in a uniquely favourable position in global terms.

7. Labour and the EU — UKICE: Lammy at ‘em: securing a security pact with Europe. Richard Whitman analyses the Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s recent speech setting out Labour’s foreign policy priorities, looking in particular at the proposal of a UK-EU security pact.

8. Truss and UK-US relations — Politico: Liz Truss Crashes the (Republican) Party. The former British prime minister, banished from office after a disastrous rollout of her tax-cut plan, finds new allies in American conservatives.

9. Corruption Index — Bloomberg: UK Tumbles in Corruption Index After a Year of Political Scandal. Transparency International cites ‘worryingly low’ public trust Russia, Brazil, Qatar also singled out by watchdog group.

10. Brexit anniversary — UnHerd: Introducing UnHerd Britain 2023. What does your constituency think about today's political issues? Includes the following polling data--